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The Columbus Lady Cardinals are heading for the state championship tournament after defeating the Goliad Tigerettes in the regional finals.
On Friday, May 15, the Lady Cards traveled to Alamo Heights Sports Complex to take on Goliad in the regional finals and came away with a 9-6 victory.
The Lady Cards started the game on defense as they were the home team in this game, and they made quick work of Goliad. They secured the three outs necessary to end the inning and gave their hitters a chance to open the scoring early.
In the bottom of the first inning, the Lady Cards scored one run, and it was thanks to Emma Beauchamp who hit a single to get on base. Beauchamp then stole second and third base, and then Allie Cranek hit a sacrifice fly ball to bring Beauchamp home to make the score 1-0.
In the second inning, the Lady Cards defense stayed sharp and again faced three batters that resulted in three outs. In their second offensive attempt in the game, the Lady Cards did not score a run, but there were still five innings to play, so they did not panic.
In the top of the third, Goliad took the lead back from the Lady Cards by scoring two runs, holding onto a 2-1 lead. The Lady Cards were ready with a response though as they scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning.
They were led off by a single from Kaylea Foster; then Beauchamp stepped up and hit a triple to bring Foster home to tie the game at 2-2. Then Cranek hit a double to bring Beauchamp home and give the Lady Cards a 3-2 lead, which was followed by a sacrifice bunt from Aggie Rodriguez to bring Cranek home.
Leading 4-2, the Lady Cards entered the fourth inning looking to keep Goliad’s offense in check. Goliad continued to score though, and they scored three runs in the top of the fourth inning to make the score 5-4.
Like the third inning, the Lady Cards were ready with a response to retake the lead from Goliad. It started with Averie Miller hitting a single to get a runner on base; then Kaylea McCarthy stepped up to the plate and hit a ball deep into left field over the fence for a tworun home run.
This gave the Lady Cards a 6-5 lead going into the fifth inning, and in the top of the fifth inning the Lady Cards defense came back to life. The Lady Cards held Goliad scoreless in the top of the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Lady Cards scored one run thanks to a double from Presley Drozd to drive home a run. Then after holding Goliad to zero runs in the top of the sixth inning, the Lady Cards scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Beauchamp and Cranek hit back-to-back singles to drive in two runs each and give the Lady Cards a 9-5 lead. In the seventh inning, Goliad scored a run to arrive at the final score of 9-6, but after the third out, the Lady Cards punched their ticket to the state tournament.
The Lady Cards now look ahead to their next game, which will be in the state semi-finals against the Grandview Lady Zebras on Wednesday, May 20, at Georgetown High School with start times still to be determined.
