By Creighton Harley
After falling to Michigan for the second time in as many days on Sunday, the University of Louisville softball season came to a close. Since the establishment of the program in 2000, Sandy Pearsall has committed herself to building one of the up-and-coming college softball programs. While falling short of the goal of a Women’s College World Series, there are plenty of positives to reflect on:
- 55-5 won-lost season (Record)
- 25-0 Regular Season Home Record
- Big East Regular Season Conference Champions
- Big East Tournament Champions
- Big East Coaching Staff of the Year
- Nine All-Big East players
- Five All-NCAA Great Lakes players
- Three game season sweep of Kentucky
- Single game attendance record, 3,124 (against UK)
After losing only three seniors, (Tori Collins, Kristin Austin, Tesha Paysen), the Cards should be poised for another exciting season in 2013. The next step is putting together a respectable out-of-conference schedule. UofL had the best record in college softball, but received only a No. 15 seed because of its schedule and RPI.
Tom Jurich and Julie Hermann are looking out for the softball program, with plans for a $2.6 million expansion Ulmer Stadium. Improvements will include a terrace, an expanded press box, new locker rooms and team space, and concession areas. The investments will keep bringing NCAA tournament action to Floyd Street, enhance recruiting and greater respect nationally.
Love the last line, though I was not torn. Creighton University is my namesake, but I am a Louisville Cardinal through and through.
While I do agree with most of your argument about scheduling, we played 2 teams with an RPI of 35 or better out-of-conference. (No. 4 Tennessee, No. 25 Michigan) We had an RPI of 10th even though we had the best record in the country. We need to find a way to get together with a few of the top ACC or SEC schools, (maybe even Big 12) and get some games. We went out to Sacramento for a tournament, and down to Miami for a tournament. We could have played a PAC-12 school when we went out to Sacramento, or we could have played an ACC school in Miami. I still do not understand with us being one of five top 30 RPI schools in the Big East, why do we not get more respect from the rest of the nation?
Bottom Line is we have a school with a plethora of programs to get behind, and softball is becoming one of the big ones. Most of the UofL fanbase was won over by this year’s team, and I am sure will be out at games next season. Let’s do even better in 2013. Go Cards!
We’ll add in-stadium restroom facilities to the list. AS far as out-of-conference scheduling, Louisville did play 3 of the 16 teams that qualified for the Super Regionals.
Creighton, 12 of the 16 teams in those Super Regionals came from (3) conferences, PAC 12 (5), SEC (5) and BIG 12 (2). Travel is an obstacle for Louisville scheduling much in the PAC 12. Especially if you want home and away status. The SEC tends to schedule beatable non-conference foes before entering their very tough conference schedule. Louisville could possibly receive a huge boost in scheduling if they are included in BIG 12 expansion.
It’s not that Pearsall and company don’t want to play established and powerful programs. They just don’t want to play Louisville.
They did play Creighton this year, though. I’m sure you were torn on who to cheer for.
Sonja