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The Columbus Lady Cardinals traveled down I-10 to Weimar to take on the Luling Lady Eagles in the Bi-District round of the playoffs.
It was a best of three game series with the first two games being played on Thursday, April 24, and the Lady Cards won both of those games to sweep the series.
@ Luling, W, 18-0
The first game had the Lady Cards as the visiting team, so they batted first to start the game. They made the most of their offensive opportunities and scored five runs to get their offense in a rhythm.
The Lady Cards offense built off of the offensive surge in the first inning and scored 13 runs in the second. Part of the reason why the Lady Cards were able to score so many runs was because of Kaylea Foster and Allie Cranek who both hit doubles Thursday night.
When they took the field in the bottom of the first inning Mia Post was in the circle for the Lady Cards and later relieved by McKenna Eden. Post pitched two innings for the Lady Cards and gave up zero hits, zero runs and walked zero batters while striking out five batters.
Eden also had a successful outing in the circle for the Lady Cards, she pitched one inning, gave up zero runs on zero hits and walked two batters while striking out three batters.
After the conclusion of the first game there was a 30-minute break for the teams to eat a snack and refuel for game two. The Lady Cards came into game two knowing a win would give them the Bi-District Championship, but the Lady Eagles were not going to go down without a fight.
Vs. Luling, W, 6-0
In game two the fatigue factor was evident for both teams and not just physical fatigue but mental fatigue as well. These girls put themselves through a lot just to play in these games and despite the fatigue both teams came out and played their tails off for the fans in attendance.
Luling stepped up their play mightily in game two as well and did a much better job of keeping the Lady Cards off of the bases. This stopped the Lady Cards from scoring in such large chunks like they did in game one and made the score a little bit closer.
Mia Post struck out five batters in game one against Luling. Citizen | Evan Hale
That does not mean the Lady Cards played badly and still won, the Lady Cards still had a ton of positives in game two. One of which being post hit a double and Foster’s bat stayed hot as she hit two more doubles in game two to give her three doubles in two games in this series. Cranek’s bat also had some pop left in it from game one as well as she hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning.
Pitching wise, Cranek was in the circle for the first four innings for the Lady Cards. During that time, she gave up zero runs, zero hits, walked one batter and struck out six batters. Peyton Drozd came into relieve Cranek and she pitched the remaining three innings and gave up zero runs on one hit, walked one batter and struck out three of them. The Lady Cards have captured the Bi-District Championship and now set their sights on the Area Round when they take on Marion on Friday, May 2, at the Victoria Sports Complex in Victoria.
