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Cardinal leads area at Fairfield tournament
Comets take fifth place at annual clash; Trojans, Warriors and Panthers follow
FAIRFIELD — After a rough Day 1 for the area teams at the 2024 Fairfield softball tournament, Day 2 became a four-way battle for fifth among the Union area schools.
After the Union teams went 0-4 on Day 1, Cardinal bounced right back for two wins on the day to take fifth. Fairfield finished sixth. Van Buren County took seventh, and Mt. Pleasant rounded out the field in eighth.
On Friday, the 10th-ranked (2A) Comets lost an absolute battle against No. 14 (3A) West Burlington-Notre Dame. Fairfield fell 10-5 to Central Lee. Mt. Pleasant dropped its game 16-0 against Chariton, and Van Buren County lost to Grinnell, 10-0.
That set up a pair of rivalry games in the consolation semifinals. One of those was the first Fairfield-Mt. Pleasant game of the year, where the Trojans would run away with a 10-0, five inning victory.
Fairfield’s Laney Norris hurled a two-hit shut out in the circle. She also went 2-for-3 with two RBIs at the plate.
Savannah Hollander went 1-for-2, including a two-run bomb to left field that helped break the game open. Maddy Martin knocked in two runs, and Olivia Hollander and Faith Jones each knocked in one.
While that was going on, Cardinal’s Maclain Hickenbottom was shutting out Van Buren County. She gave up just one hit over seven innings and struck out five Warriors to push Cardinal to the fifth-place game.
Brinlee Ostrander had two hits and two RBIs at the plate to lead Cardinal. Autumn Setterh finished the game with two hits, and Summer LaRue drove in a run.
In the fifth place game, Cardinal’s Nicoa McClure was nearly unhittable for six innings, leading the Comets to a 3-0 win. Fairfield did load the bases in its final at-bat, but a lineout spelled the end.
McClure gave up just five hits over six shut out innings, while striking out nine batters. She also had two RBIs at the plate. LaRue knocked in one, and Emma Becker had two of the team’s three runs.
That win marked Cardinal assistant coach Hannah Simpson’s first win over her former team. Simpson was an All-State player for Fairfield coach Bob Bradfield just two years prior.
Mt. Pleasant had built a 4-0 lead on Van Buren County in the seventh-place game, thanks in large part to a bases-clearing opposite field triple by Emma Starr. The Warriors, however, would claw back with three runs in the fifth and two in the sixth to win the game.
Ashlynn Huff was 1-for-3 with two RBIs for VBC. Lexie Wiley knocked in one run, and Alicia Cumberland got the win in the circle, giving up four runs (one earned) over seven innings.
Along with Emma Starr’s three-RBI day, Myah Starr knocked in one run. Lila Cook was 2-for-3 at the plate, and Chaley Cook struck out four batters over six innings, while giving up five runs, with four of them being earned.
Chariton would go on to win the tournament in a wild 16-13 victory over Grinnell in the championship. West Burlington-Notre Dame beat Central Lee 7-6 for third.
