Cardington played host to a pair of postseason sporting events on Monday. The Pirates won their opening-round playoff game in baseball by a 16-1 score over Fredericktown, while the softball team exited the postseason after suffering a 10-1 loss to Utica in the district semifinals.

Baseball

A fast start propelled Cardington past the Freddies, as they put up 11 runs in a first inning that saw Fredericktown have to use four different pitchers to record three outs.

“Nobody expected that, not even us,” said Ryan Goetzman of that dominant inning. “The boys did a great job, put some good at bats together and competed well. Very timely hitting and some big swings with runners in scoring position. The guys just competed. I’m super proud of them.”

After Wyatt Wade pitched a scoreless first inning for Cardington, it didn’t talk long for the Pirates to start lighting up the scoreboard. With one out, Denton Garrison was hit by a pitch. After a balk by the Freddies, A.J. Hall drove in Garrison with a single. Wade would single to put runners on the corner, but the Freddies would then record the second out of the inning.

It would be a long time before they managed an elusive third out, though. Fisher Schuman cracked a single that scored two runs and, after a Cadin Dewitt hit, a passed ball scored Schuman. Bryce Hartley made it 5-0 with a single.

Three straight walks by two different pitchers brought in another run and the score would then expand to 8-0 with a Hall pop-up was misplayed. Two more runs would score when the Freddies committed an error on a Wade grounder and Merek McClure then singled in Wade to make it 11-0.

“We didn’t know who we’d get on the mound from them,” said Goetzman. “I think we got about everybody. The kids did a good job staying in there and competing and hitting the ball well, so I’m proud of them for that.”

In the game, Fredericktown used six different pitchers, with Cardington manufacturing runs against five of them — a performance that pleased their coach.

“That was a great job by our kids,” he said. “We preach this a lot — staying within ourselves and hitting strikes well. I though we did a good job of being patient and hitting strikes well. At times, there were some opportunities we had to chase pitches and we didn’t do it. We didn’t press. We stayed within ourselves in the strike zone and hit the ball really hard at times.”

Cardington added a pair of runs in the second inning on RBI singles by Hall and Wade. After giving up one run in the top of the third, they would add three runs in the fourth to end the game’s scoring. Hall drove in the first with a single, which was followed by an RBI sacrifice fly by Schuman. A Fredericktown error on a Dewitt grounder brought in one additional run.

That was more than enough offense for the team. Wade pitched the first three innings for the win and James Fiant took the mound for the final two. Those two only gave up five hits and four walks, while striking out five. Goetzman was pleased with how his team avoided allowing the one run they surrendered balloon into significant offense for the Freddies.

“That’s something we’ve struggled with all year,” he said. “We usually have the opposite. We usually blow up an inning and we didn’t do that today. The kids did a great job staying engaged and locked in. The challenge the last few days for us has been consistent effort and consistent energy and when we do that, I think we’re a pretty good baseball team. That’s the goal every day: To be a consistent team and continuously build upon games and keep our effort high.”

Hall picked up three singles for the team, while both Wade and Schuman had two each.

Softball

For the Cardington softball team, Monday just was not their day.

While the team managed eight hits, they could only muster one run in their 10-1 loss to Utica. Meanwhile, they gave up 13 hits and two walks, while also committing four errors that led to five unearned runs.

“We struggled defensively and struggled pitching,” said head coach Baylee Adams. “Utica is a great team. I really do think they’re going to go far. A great hitting team. It wasn’t our day.”

It was a pitching duel through the first three innings, with the only offense being a Redskin run scored in the third frame on a single, an error which moved that runner to second base and an RBI double.

Cardington had a chance to score in the second when Ari Simpson led off with a single and Myleigh Bishop cracked a two-out double to put runners on second and third, but they would not convert. They would also get a one-out single by Genevieve Longsdorf in the third inning, but would not be able to advance her.

Those missed opportunities started to prove costly in the fourth inning, as Utica was able to string together offense. A walk followed by two singles to open that inning made the score 2-0. With one out, the Redskins made it 3-0 on a sacrifice fly. They then took advantage of an error to put runners on the corners and then got an additional run on a double steal.

Trailing 4-0, Cardington got a two-out triple by Celia Hall in their half of the fourth, but could not move her home. Utica then got an inside-the-park home run in the fifth to add to their lead and then made it 6-0 on two consecutive hits.

Adams noted she wasn’t expecting this sort of offensive attack by Utica.

“I’m not usually speechless a lot,” she said. “I usually always have something to say. I wasn’t expecting them to come in and hit our number one pitcher. I wasn’t expecting them to hit it as hard as they did.”

The Redskins struck for four more runs in the top of the sixth inning to stretch their lead to a 10-0 margin. Facing the end of their season, Cardington was able to get a double by Alexis Longsdorf, followed by a single by Morgan Powell to put her on third and a sacrifice by Simpson to stay alive. However, Utica would get out of the inning with no further damage done.

Then, in the seventh inning, after the Pirates opened with back-to-back singles by Abby Ufferman and Madison Dornon, the Redskins recorded three straight outs to end the game.

After the game, Adams noted that her team will graduate a pair of key players.

“We’re losing two great seniors,” she said. “Genevieve Longsdorf, our heart and soul of our softball program. Abby Ufferman, the most positive person I’ve ever met in my life — truly one of a kind. They’re both so different when they play softball. They bring different levels of energy. We’re going to miss them a lot. It’s going to be tough to replace both of them. We’re going to have to work in the offseason.”

However, the Pirates return everyone else from a team that took a big step forward from the 2023 squad. Adams said that the key to continued improvement will be the amount of work put in during the offseason.

“We just talked in our huddle,” she said. “The offseason is kind of a myth. There is no offseason. The weight room will always be open. The field will always be open. I’ll always be willing to come pitch to them, open the weight room to them, to set up tees for them, hit ground balls. Just have to put in the work in the offseason and hopefully, we can make a run again next year.”

Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS