Cardington working to regain its lofty spot on the softball scene
CENTERBURG — Not that a 12-11 season is cause for panic, but it was definitely a departure from the norm over the last decade at Cardington.
With first-year head coach Baylee Adams, one of the anchors on those regional- and state-bound softball squads in the midst of those postseason runs, now running the Pirates after the retirement of longtime coach Tod Brininger, they are looking more like their former selves.
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"Our pitching has been phenomenal," Adams said. "(Genevieve Longsdorf) has been doing really well. The defense for the most part has been really good. At the beginning of the year, our hitting was really, really good."
Cardington is 8-2 and still has hopes for regaining a Knox Morrow Athletic Conference championship, although a couple games behind in the loss column to Danville and Fredericktown. On Thursday, they went to Centerburg and overcame an early 2-0 deficit to pull off a 5-2 league victory.
How the Pirates have rebounded
A year ago, they only had Longsdorf in the pitching circle and Ari Simpson at third base and in the middle of the lineup returning from the 2022 Final Four squad.
Longsdorf, a former All-Ohioan, is now a senior and Simpson a junior. Last year's newcomers got seasoned in the .500-ish season, and this year's freshmen call-ups have fit in seamlessly.
"I really like where we’re at," Adams said. "We have two freshmen who have come in and have really stepped it up in really big positions for us at shortstop (Alexis Longsdorf) and center field (Celia Hall). (Hall) is hitting No. 2 and one is in the 6-hole for us. Both are left-handed slappers who put the ball in play pretty well."
Junior outfielder Morgan Powell was batting .667 heading into the week and didn't hurt her cause with a 3-for-4 effort with a double at Centerburg. Sophomore catcher Kayden Burchett was hitting .524, while the elder Longsdorf sister was at .500 and the younger one at .409. Simpson and Hall are also batting better than .400 to this point of the season.
The Pirates put up nine runs in a loss to Fredericktown, but bounced back for an 18-run outburst against Elgin. They also had 14 runs against New Albany and 11 against Northmor. The outlier is the opener when Fredericktown touched them up for 12 runs. Since then they've surrendered 14 runs in their last nine games based on Longsdorf's work in the circle and the defense around her.
"We put ourselves in a tough position league-wise," Adams said. "Fredericktown didn’t go our way, and Danville ( a 2-0 loss) didn’t go our way. Both are great teams. We’ve talked about continuing to build our resume with non-league games. With the tournament draw, we’ll see where we fall."
Game balls
Besides the effort by Powell, Genevieve Longsdorf was stellar at pitcher. She tossed a two-hitter with one walk, one hit batter and 15 strikeouts, while not allowing an earned run.
Simpson doubled and singled, and Myleigh Bishop and Hall each singled twice with Hall scoring twice, while Burchett drove in two runs. The Pirates had 13 hits from eight players.
"We’re still practicing as much as we can," Adams said. "We’ve only had three days off in April. We’re pitching and catching and throwing so much. Hitting has been an everyday thing for us. (Tuesday) after the tornadoes went through, I was like, ‘Let’s go hit.’ They said, 'We’re not going home?' No, we’re going to hit.
"I’m really excited to see where this team goes. I have a lot of confidence in us."
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: New coach reinvigorating old successes with Cardington softball
