Anticipation. The squad gathered in the practice facility together waiting to hear their name called in Sunday’s Selection Show.. and they had to wait till the 63rd team to be named of 64.

With the at-large bid, the Cardinals are making their 14th NCAA appearance and first since 2016.

Louisville (33-21, 12-12 ACC) is coming off of a quarterfinal appearance in the 2019 ACC tournament where the Cardinals fell 9-3 to fourth-seeded North Carolina where the Cards earned the 5 seed. They finished the regular season third in the league’s Atlantic Division behind Florida State (19-5) and Notre Dame (18-6) while ranking fifth in the overall ACC standings. 

• Redshirt senior Sidney Melton was selected to the All-ACC second team, marking the second straight season she has earn all-conference honors. Charley Butler and Rebecca Chung were named to the ACC All-Freshman team.
• Louisville is led at the plate by Melton who is batting .343 and has reached safely in the last 17 game. Melton has career-best 32 stolen bases and recently took over sole possession of Louisville’s single season record in that category.
• Junior Celene Funke paces the team with 46 runs.
• Funke leads the nation in triples with 12 and owns Louisville’s single season record in that category. Louisville leads the nation in triples per game.
• Senior Megan Hensley leads the team with 12 home runs and 43 RBIs.
• In the circle, redshirt freshman Taylor Roby leads team with a 13-4 record and a 2.61 ERA.
• As a team, Louisville has registered a program-record 99 stolen bases in 114 attempts on the season. The previous record was 68 (95 attempts), set in the 2010 season

Preview:
Louisville will travel to Evanston, Ill., to face Southern Illinois in the first round of the 2019 NCAA tournament on May 17 at 1 p.m. (ET) at Northwestern’s Sharon J. Drysdale Field.    
 
The host Wildcats (43-10,21-2 Big Ten) earned the No. 16 overall seed and will play Detroit Mercy (31-26, 16-8 Horizon League) in the other first round game at 3:30 p.m. (ET). Both games will be shown on ESPN3.

Series History: Southern Illinois won the only meeting between the teams with a 1-0 decision on March 4, 2000. 

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Daryl Foust

Lifelong fan of the Louisville Cardinals, been covering the teams since 2012, graduated from c/o 2015, Writer/Contributor for TCZ for Men's Soccer, Women's Basketball & Softball since 2016.

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