Lady Cardinals Start Season With A Busy Week

The Soda Springs softball team started their season last week and played where they played five games in just five days.  As per usual the Lady Cardinals start their season with a heavy slate of road games due to our wonderful Caribou County weather.  Their first road trip was to West Jefferson to take on the Lady Panthers.  The Cardinals got things rolling right off the get go with a triple by Davis that was followed up by several walks.  By the time that the first inning ended the Cardinals held a six point lead.  Soda Springs continued to dominate the game in the second.  Some well timed steals and a three run home run by Goodin extended the lead to fourteen points.  The Cardinals gave up their only run of the game in the bottom of the second but that was a mere blip on the radar.  This game ended early with the Cardinals winning with ease.

The Lady Cardinals next faced the Westside Lady Pirates on Thursday.  Once again some good base stealing from the Cardinals put them in scoring position in the top of the first inning.  Soda Springs was only able to manage a single run, while giving up two runs in the bottom of the inning.  The second inning was a stalemate as neither team was able to score but the Cardinals did have a pair of impressive pick offs on defense.  In the top of the third the Cardinals once again positioned themselves to score and this time they would regain the lead off of a Hemmert steal at home plate.  The Lady Pirates did not get a chance to answer as the Cardinals earned three quick outs to end the inning.  Hemmert’s good game continued in the fourth inning when she stepped to the plate with the bases loaded.  Hemmert smacked a triple driving in three more runs for the Cardinals.  Soda Springs once again held the Pirates scoreless in the inning and now had a comfortable six run lead.  The Cardinals would earn one more run in the fifth and would give up one as well.  The sixth inning got wild.  Soda Springs opened things up with some great hitting combined with several walks and steals.  When they were finally done hitting the Lady Cardinals held a commanding sixteen point lead.  With the last at bat the Lady Pirates did their best to rally back.  After giving up some walks and several runs the Cardinals held on to win the game by ten.

Following the two big opening wins the Lady Cards next traveled to Wendell to take part in a weekend tournament.  They faced three teams in two days.  They started off with a tough Wendell team.  The Cardinals started off slow failing to earn any runs in the first while the Trojans came out red hot including a three run home run that put Wendell up by five.  The second inning was worse than the first for Soda Springs.  After once again failing to score, the Lady Cardinals gave up several walks and steals.  The Trojans capped off the inning with a grand slam earning a very large lead over the scoreless Cardinals.  In the top of the third the Cardinals finally got on the scoreboard earning four runs.  That would be as close as they would get as Soda Springs would not score again losing in a blowout.

After the big loss the Lady Cardinals had to turn around and play North Fremont that afternoon.  This time Soda Springs had last bats.  The Huskies opened things up in a hurry getting their first run after just five pitches.  North Fremont added two more runs before the Cardinals had a chance to respond.  Determined to not let this game get away from them the Lady Cardinals put up a pair of runs of their own and the first inning ended with the Huskies leading by just a single run.  In the top of the second the Cardinals looked good early getting two outs in quick succession.  Then the wheels fell off for a bit.  North Fremont went on a six run stretch and did not allow a single run by the Cards.  The Huskies now lead by seven.  North Fremont extended the lead in the top of the third.  Goodin tried to help bring Soda back into the game with a three shot triple but the Cardinals now trailed by eight.  The Cardinals would get as close as four runs in the fourth but would eventually fall to the Huskies by six.

With one game left in their week the Cardinals woke up refreshed on Saturday to face off against Bear Lake.  This was possibly the most thrilling game of the week.  Soda Springs would bat second in this game as well and at the end of the first inning led by two points.  The second inning was a stalemate with neither team doing much.  In the third the momentum shifted to the Lady Bears.  The Bears put up six straight runs to take a four run lead.  Davis would hit a solo home run in the bottom of the inning but the Cardinals still trailed by three.  In the top of the fourth the Cardinals would hold the Bears scoreless.  Then in the bottom of the inning Hemmert once again hit a triple with the bases loaded to tie the game.  A few batters later and the inning ended with the Cardinals now leading by three. Over the next two innings the Cardinals would add a single run in each while holding the Bears to no additional runs.  In the top of the seventh and final inning the Bears attempted a comeback but the Cardinals held them to just two runs winning the game by three.

The Lady Cardinals look to be off to a solid start and should have an exciting season ahead of them.

Cardinals 6 8 5 19

Panthers 0 1 0 1

Cardinals 1 0 2 5 1 10 19

Pirates 2 0 0 0 1 6 9

Cardinals 0 0 4 0 0 4

Trojans 5 11 1 3 - 20

Huskies 3 6 4 0 4 0 0 17

Cardinals 2 0 3 4 1 1 0 11

Bears 0 0 6 0 0 0 2 8

Cardinals 2 0 1 6 1 1 - 11