Heading into the bottom of the fifth inning with Bethlehem Academy trailing Southland 4-0, the Cardinals looked tired. They looked like a team nearing the end of a long season, a long school year and a long week.
“There wasn’t much energy in the dugout,” manager Scott Trump remarked afterwards.
But, sometimes, it only takes a hit, and then a run, to get things going.
After a fairly quiet opening four innings, the Cardinals started to wake up. The question was just if it was too little too late. Maybe being reminded that the season nearing its end isn’t, in fact, a good thing, but a sleepy offense started to stir.
And, with Morgan Wilson on the mound, en route to another double-digit strikeout effort with 10 to her name, the Cardinals managed a tight top of the sixth, heading into the bottom of the inning and the top half of the order.
Then the bats woke up.
A triple by Anna Tobin, who has led the whole way all year on both sides of the plate, waking up her teammates fully with the crack of a bat. Bethlehem Academy went into the batters’ box needing one run in the bottom of the seventh, and the Cardinals got it.
Then headed into the bottom of the eighth, the Cardinals needed a run, and they got that one too. A winner, turning the energy of a half hour earlier into a thing of the past. Kaylee Katra, Tobin, and Caitlin Bothun delivered multi-hit afternoons to propel the Cardinals into the offseason on a high note.
And with a lot more energy.
From what appeared to be a loss by multiple runs to a 5-4 victory in extra innings, the Cardinals put a final bow on a regular season that has been all about getting older, wiser and tougher. Friday’s victory is as big as they come for a team learning how to win and learning how to grind it out. The idea of a character win is an often overused cliche in sports, but the Cardinals showcased their character on Friday, a good sign of things to come, no matter how the next week goes.
The Cardinals will have returned to action on Monday evening, facing Lyle-Pacelli in the first round of the Section 1A tournament as the No. 2 seed. From there just a few more wins await the Cardinals to make the state tournament for the second consecutive year. How far the Cardinals have come from an opening game defeat and worries that last year’s success may have been a thing of the past.
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