Cardinals outlast Hayfield in 2-1 thriller

As first baseman Liv Glumack snagged a bobbled ball between her arms, shortstop Anna Tobin yelled out to her.

“Go to second!”

With the ball finally under control, Glumack did in fact throw to second, recording the game’s final out on a double-play as Bethlehem Academy held on to beat Hayfield 2-1.

If you were going to bottle up the Cardinals’ season into one game, then Wednesday may have been the day to do it. There was pitching, because there is always pitching, Morgan Wilson giving up just four hits en route to another win. There was also growth, Anna Cohen letting one ball through her grasp only to snag multiple ground balls the rest of the game with veteran confidence.

There were some empty swings and there were cracks of the bat and battles at the plate. The Cardinals are not quite as lethal as they were last season, coming just a few wins shy of a state title, but there is communication and development, confidence and growth.

“It’s even better than last year,” manager Scott Trump said after the game. “Last year the girls just knew what to do, now if it wasn’t for the music, you’d be able to hear them talking through everything.”

And that’s sort of how the season has gone, a still young team learning the ropes, getting their only two runs of the game in the bottom of the fourth, led by Tobin and a triple by Wilson. They might not be the world beaters they were last year, but the Cardinals’ confidence is growing by the day, even through the ups and the downs. If it pays dividends this season remains to be seen with just two regular season games to go before section playoffs, but it almost certainly will next year as a young corps returns.

But don’t count the Cardinals out just yet.

“I think we’re almost there,” Trump said. “We’ve got a couple games to finish out strong this week. And I feel like we’re playing the way we need to be playing this time of year. That’s the most important thing.”

Bethlehem Academy will finish out the busy week playing Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton on the road Thursday before returning on Friday to host Southland on Friday afternoon. From there section playoffs loom and the pressures of winning or going home. In 2023 the pressures of expectations were higher than they are in 2024, but there’s something to be said for playing loose and with nothing to lose. Those teams can be the most dangerous of them all.