How to watch Louisville softball in NCAA tournament 2023: Game times, TV and streaming
Brooks HoltonLouisville Courier Journal
Back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019, the Louisville softball team heads to Knoxville, Tennessee, this week looking to jumpstart a deep postseason run.
The Cardinals (35-18, 16-8 ACC) kick off the double-elimination Knoxville Regional at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium with a game Friday afternoon against Big Ten tournament runner-up Indiana (42-16, 18-5). No. 4 overall seed Tennessee, which won the SEC's regular-season and tournament titles, is playing tournament host and drew Horizon League champion Northern Kentucky (23-30, 13-9) in the opening round.
First pitch between U of L and IU is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday (ESPN2). The Cardinals have dominated the all-time series 20-4, winning eight of the last 10 matchups, but the Hoosiers emerged victorious when the two teams met April 11 in Bloomington, Indiana.
"I didn't think we played our best," fifth-year head coach Holly Aprile said looking back on her team's 10-5 loss to Indiana during the regular season, "but at the same time, a good team puts you on your heels, a good team causes you to make mistakes. We're going to need to make a lot of adjustments in order to put a good game into them."
Louisville finished the regular season with 35 wins for the first time since 2019; and its 16 victories in ACC play are the most since its inaugural season in the league, 2015. The team's stay at the conference tournament in South Bend, Indiana, was short, however, after it lost 10-8 to Virginia Tech in its first game of the postseason.
U of L is making its 15th NCAA tournament appearance and second under Aprile, who led the team to a regional final in 2019. The Cardinals reached the tournament for 13 consecutive years between 2004 and 2016 under former head coach Sandy Pearsall but have never advanced to a Super Regional.
Louisville's first game of the tournament will be televised on ESPN2 (AT&T U-Verse 606; DirecTV 209; Dish 143; Spectrum 509). Qualified subscribers can stream the Cards vs. the Hoosiers and all of the regional action via WatchESPN.com, the ESPN app, or ESPN+.
Friday, May 19
Game 1: Louisville vs. Indiana, 3 p.m., ESPN2Game 2: No. 4 Tennessee vs. Northern Kentucky, 5:30 p.m., ESPN app/ESPN+
Saturday, May 20
Game 3: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 1 p.m., ESPN appGame 4: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 3:30 p.m., ESPN app
Game 5: Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 winner, 6 p.m., ESPN app
Sunday, May 21
Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 2 p.m., ESPN appGame 7: Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser (if necessary), 4:30 p.m., ESPN app
The winner of the Knoxville Regional will play the winner of the Austin Regional, which features No. 13 overall seed Texas, Texas State, Texas A&M and Seton Hall, in a best-of-three Super Regional series for a spot in the eight-team Women's College World Series, which begins June 1 at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.
