FINDLAY — The teams were certainly familiar with the situation and with one another.
Cardington was making its fourth consecutive regional appearance and Galion was making its second straight. They met in this same venue in last year’s semifinal.
The team that made the fewest mistakes would likely be victorious and that was Cardington.
The Lady Pirates committed no errors and took advantage of some costly miscues by the Lady Tigers to come away with an 11-3 win in the Division III softball regional final game at Findlay High School.
“They’re a great team. You can’t take anything away from that team,” Galion coach Doug Hunt said of Cardington. “They’re well-coached. You can see that they have a lot of intensity when they play.”
Cardington coach Tod Brininger acknowledged the degree of difficulty in making it to the regional tournament four times and to the state tournament three times in a row.
“This is the fourth straight district and regionals, three Final Fours,” Brininger said. “I don’t know that that’s ever been (done) in the Central District in Division III. It’s such a hard district to get out of in the first place. And they prepare us for this. The teams we play during the year, in our league, in our district, they prepare us for this.”
The Pirates showed their poise by playing flawless defense, even though their pitcher, Casey Bertke, did not record a strikeout. On the other side, Galion (23-5) committed an uncharacteristic four errors that led to three unearned runs.
“We came out, I felt like we were ready for this game,” Hunt said. “We’ve been working hard all season and we knew this could happen, we could be facing Cardington. We didn’t know where. We’d liked to have gotten back on (last year).
“But you’ve got to hit the ball, field the ball and you’ve got to make outs,” he added.
Cardington (23-2) threatened right off the bat in the top of the first, loading the bases on two walks and a hit batter. The Pirates failed to score, but it was a precursor to their offense for the day. Only once did Cardington go 1-2-3 in an inning — the fifth — and in addition to scoring 11 times, the Pirates left nine runners on base.
“That first inning, when we didn’t get any runs across, that’s kind of scary,” Brininger said. “Because, quite frankly, anytime we have the bases loaded, we usually get the big hit. And we had some good hitters up, we just couldn’t push one across. But we had chances all night.”
A two-out walk to Taiylor Hubley, a stolen base and an error put Cardington up, 1-0, in the top of the second. But the Tigers answered in the bottom of the inning.
Kate Schieber singled to start the inning and Emily Sedmak walked. Each moved up on a wild pitch and both scored on a single to center by Madelyn Thomas.
But the Galion lead was short-lived. The Pirates tied it in the top of the third without benefit of a hit. Baylee Adams walked, moved to third on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Bertke.
Cardington then, for all intents and purposes, put the game away with a five-run fourth inning.
The Pirates parlayed five hits and walk in the five runs. The big blows in the inning came were a pair of two-run singles by Dana Bertke and Paige Clinger. Cardington led, 7-2 after four.
“We’ve been solid all year. We’ve been in about every single game,” Hunt said. “We’ve lost four games until this one. I think the biggest (deficit) was by three. So, we’ve been in every game.”
While not fanning anyone, Casey Bertke walked only two, scattering six hits. And the defense was sterling behind her, forcing the Tigers to earn their base runners.
“What we preach every year, from the start, is fundamentals,” Brininger said. “Make the (plays) we should make and then, every once in a while, make a great one. Our outfield is so fast, they can run down a lot of balls. Our defense — we’re going to need it the next two games.”
Cardington tacked on three more in the fifth on a bases-clearing three-run double by Clinger and added on in the seventh on two hits, a walk and an error.
Galion got its only other run in the sixth on a one-out single by Navaeh Clark, a walk and an RBI single by Sedmak.
Gabby Kaple doubled to lead the Tigers’ offense. Sedmak had two singles, scored once and drove in one run. Clark and Schieber each singled and scored once, while Madelyn Thomas singled and drove home two.
Thomas took the loss in the circle, a victim of her own eight walks and four errors. Galion had committed only 20 errors all season coming in. Thomas was touched for eight hits.
“That’s a tough one, believe me,” Hunt said. “I’m really proud of these girls. They have really fought hard all season and done a great job. I can’t say enough about how well these girls have played.”
Kaple, Sedmak, Gracie Groves and Kennedy Gifford played their last game in a Galion uniform.
Clinger had a double and single for the Pirates and drove in five runs. Hubley and Casey Bertke singled twice each, with Bertke scoring twice and Hubley three times. Dana Bertke and Reanna Roth each singled and Chelsey Miller scored twice on three walks.
“I think we forced (Galion) to make mistakes because we hit the ball really hard (and) we were aggressive on the bases,” Brininger said. “You be aggressive, most of the time, it’s going to work out for you.”
“This is the farthest Galion has ever been (in softball),” Hunt said. “I’m excited for the girls. They have made history for Galion. Last year was the first time in 34 years (to make a regional appearance) and then to come back, win a district title, get back to the regionals, actually win that game, is huge for these girls. I was really proud of them.”
Cardington moves on to the state tournament in Akron on Thursday at 10 a.m., where the opponent will be the winner between West Jefferson and West Liberty Salem out of the Dayton regional.
“It means a lot,” an emotional Brininger said of the return trip to the state tournament. “These girls have worked their butts off and they deserve it.”
Box score
Cardington 011 503 1 11 8 0
Galion 020 001 0 3 6 4
WP: Casey Bertke (0 SO, 2 W)
LP: Madelyn Thomas (0 SO, 8 W)
HR: None.
Triples: None.
Doubles: (C) Paige Clinger; (G) Gabby Kaple.
Multiple hits: (C) Casey Bertke, Paige Clinger, Taiylor Hubley; (G) Emily Sedmak.
Records: Cardington 23-2; Galion 23-5.
Next: Cardington vs. West Liberty Salem/West Jefferson winner, state semifinal, Thursday at Akron Firestone Stadium; Galion season over.