Louisville 2014 Regional Wrap Up
It’s that time of year again! It’s time to pack your bags and go to the most sought after summer destination, Omaha. The 16 Regionals of 4 teams are coming to end and soon there will only 16 left.
The Louisville Cardinals hosted thier Regional as the top seed and opened with a victory over 4th seeded Kent St. 3rd seeded Kansas needed a late rally to get the win over 2nd seeded Kentucky.
After the Louisville Region was announced the fans and the local media started buzzing over the possible match up between the Cards and the Cats but after the Cats loss in the first game and dropping to the first elimination game against Kent St put the match up in jeopardy. The Cards handled Kansas and put themselves in a great position to win the double elimination Regional. The Cats survived against Kent St but had to play Kansas again in the second elimination game. This would be the last chance for a Cards and Cats match up and this time the Cats didn’t disappoint. The Cats swept the Cards in thier two season matchups and would need to beat them twice to advance.
A few hours after the Cats beat Kansas the rivals were poised for thier post season face off but they had to wait on mother nature. Lightning in the area delayed the 4:10 start time for about four hours. The lightning left the area but the rain didn’t as they played most of the game under a nearly constant rain fall. The Cards home field of Jim Patterson Stadium can drain up to 5 inches of rain an hour so the turf held up well but the relief pitchers had obvious trouble with the pitchers mound in the late innings.
The Cards had two great oppertunities to break the game open in the third and fifth innings when they had the bases loaded with one out and with thier Conference Player of the Year and big bat coming up but Gardner hit into a double play and struck out. In all, both the Cards and Cats best hitters, Gardner and Reed, were held to one hit each throughout the Regional.
In the end the Cards pitching carried them to the 6-2 win and thier second straight Super Regional. The Cards pitching gave up just three runs in thier three Regional games. With Florida St going 0-2 in thier regional the Cards will now host thier Super Regional and will play the winner of Alabama and Kennesaw St.
As of the time that I wrote this only 6 of the 16 Super Regional spots have been claimed. Maryland and Virginia have advanced and the ACC could claim 6 of the spots, counting Louisville. The Cards will be looking to make thier second straight CWS as well. Go Cards and go ACC.
The Confidential 