Cardinals Are Eliminated In District Play

The Soda Springs Cardinals baseball team played in the district tournament last weekend.  Unfortunately the Cardinals were unsuccessful in the tournament losing their first two games and were eliminated from state playoff contention.

The Cardinals started the tournament playing the Wendell Trojans.  In the teams two regular season matchups the Trojans got the better of the Cardinals the first go around and in the teams second game the two teams ended in a three to three tie game.  The Cardinals had hoped that the third time would be the charm in overcoming the Trojans.  However it was not to be.  In the first inning the Cardinals went three up three down in their first at bat.  They then watched as the Trojans went on a flurry of scoring knocking in ten runs and taking a commanding lead.  The second inning was a repeat of the first with the Cards failing to get on base and the Trojans earning ten more runs.  The rout was on.  The Trojans would add three more runs in the third.  The Cardinals finally got on the board in the fourth but it was far too little too late and the game came to a close after the top of the fourth inning.

Following the first round loss the Cardinals were set to face the Declo Hornets.  The two teams split their regular season matchups each winning on their home field by a single run.  This game was at a neutral site in Malad.  The evenly matched teams started off just the way they played each other in the regular season.  The first inning ended with neither team scoring a run.  The Hornets struck first in the game scoring a single run in the top of the second inning.  The Cardinals answered right back by scoring a pair of runs of their own and taking a slim two to one run lead.  The top of the third inning is when the game got away from the Cardinals.  Soda Springs, in a sloppy defensive inning, gave up five runs and now trailed by four runs in the game.  The Cardinals would only manage a single run of their own in that same inning.  From there the game really got bogged down.  Each team added one more run in the fourth inning with the Hornets holding on to their three run lead.  The final three innings saw very little action from a batting perspective.  Neither team earned another run following the fourth.  The Cardinals fell to the Hornets and were eliminated from the district tournament ending their season.

The Cardinals say goodbye to four great seniors who made some great contributions to the program.  The seniors showed some great leadership and helped the Cardinals have one of their more competitive seasons that they have had in recent years.  The returning players will look to build on this year's successes while learning from some of the mistakes.  Next season should be a good one for the young talented group of players.