Cardinals Go Down Swinging at Districts

Cardinals Baseball

District tournament play took place last week for both the Cardinal softball and baseball teams.  The boys baseball team opened up the tournament against a team they split with in the regular season the Bear Lake Bears.  These evenly matched teams duked it out through the first inning and through the top of the second.  Going into the bottom of the second, the score was tied at 1-1.  The score remained at one run a piece as the Cardinals got two quick outs on the Bears.  From there, the Bears went on a scoring frenzy and ended the inning with five additional runs, taking a 6-1 lead.  The Cardinals scored a single run in each of the next two innings but never got any closer.  Soda dropped the opening game of the tournament by a score of 3-7.  After Bear Lake faced off against Malad, the Cardinals once again faced the Bears this time in an elimination game.  With the season matchup now at 2-1 in favor of the Bears, the Cardinals looked to even the score.  

Once again in the early going the game stayed close.  Entering the second inning the Bears held a slim 1-0 lead.  In the top of the inning the Cardinals got a small burst of runs and took their first lead at 3-1.  The Cardinals added one more run in the top of the third but then gave up three runs in the bottom of the inning, sending the game to the fourth inning tied at four runs a piece.  Soda regained the lead briefly in the fourth scoring one run, but once again they gave up three runs to the Bears in the same inning and trailed 5-7.  The Cards closed the gap to just a single run two more times in the game, but the Bears single run in the sixth inning was enough to eliminate the Cardinals from state tournament play.  The Cardinals go down 7-8 to end their season.  Soda Springs will graduate some great senior leadership but still have a wealth of young talent to build on for
next season.

Lady Cardinals Softball

The Lady Cardinal softball team also started their tournament play against a solid Bear Lake squad.  The Cardinals were unable to get a win over the Bears in the regular season, and things wouldn’t change much in the opening round of districts.  The Cardinals looked good early in this game and took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the second inning.  The Bears came roaring back at that point, scoring eight runs in the inning and eventually running away with the game.  The Lady Cards lost game one of the tournament by the score of 6-16.  This set the Cardinals up against the bottom ranked team in the district, West Side.  The Cardinals had very little trouble in the regular season beating the Pirates and looked to do so again in this elimination game.  This game was a back and forth affair with several lead changes throughout.  The game stayed close through the top of the fifth where the Cardinals were trailing 6-5.  In the bottom of that same inning Soda had a flurry of scoring and ended the inning with a little breathing room at 11-6.  The Cards added one more run and took home the victory 12-6.  On the other side of the bracket, Malad took on Bear Lake, setting up yet another matchup with the Bears for the Cardinals.  The loser would be eliminated and the winner would play for the district title.  Bear Lake held a slim lead through the first three innings.  In the top of the fourth, however, the Cardinals came alive.  Several big hits combined with some superb base running put Soda up 12-7 entering the bottom of the inning.  That score held until the bottom of the fifth, where the Bears took their turn at going on a run and grabbed the lead back at 15-12.  With innings running out for the Cardinals, they needed some big plays in a hurry.  That is what they got from #1 Davis when she boomed a three run homer in the sixth to tie the game at 15.  Camp added another run for the Cards in the seventh, and solid defense held the Bears scoreless during their last at bat.  The Cardinals won round two 16-15.  Things did not go so well against Malad in the championship game as the Cardinals got blown out by a very good Dragon team 0-15.  With the loss, Soda had to face Declo to keep their season alive in a play-in game.  Unfortunately, that game would not go the Cardinal’s way either and they saw their season come to an abrupt end.  The four seniors that the Lady Cards lose to graduation will be missed, but the rest of the girls will come back next season hungry to prove themselves worthy of making the state
tournament.