Cardington claims sixth straight softball district championship
PICKERINGTON — Call it a six pack, a half-dozen, one for the second hand or a three-peat times two.
Cardington softball coach Tod Brininger will call it something else.
"It’s amazing and it never gets old," he said after watching his team win a sixth straight Division III district championship Friday night at Pickerington Central.
The Pirates beat fellow Knox Morrow Athletic Conference rival Centerburg 5-1 to pull it off.
"It’s something I truly am appreciative of," Cardington senior centerfielder Mac Linkous said. "Not everyone gets to make it this far. People are done one game in, so it’s sitting back and looking back and realizing not everybody gets this opportunity to take home the gold."
The last time Cardington lost a district game — an 8-5 loss to Liberty Union in the district semifinals in 2015 — the seniors were in fifth grade and the freshmen were second-graders to help put the accomplishment into perspective.
That's 12 consecutive district victories and 18 tournament wins in the sectionals and district since starting the postseason in 2016.
"You almost have to remind the young ones that this is a big deal," Brininger said. "Now it’s kind of like we’re there, but this is a huge deal. Some of these kids have never experienced this — especially here — but it’s a big deal. It’s hard to win a district in the Central District. It’s just hard to do. Being six in a row is unbelievable."
How have the Pirates pulled off the feat?
"Good players and great players," Brininger said. "We’ve been fortunate to have calls go our way. We’ve had huge hits. We’ve had players step up in big spots."
Indeed they have. While 2016 turned into a 5-0 win over West Jefferson and 2019 was a 12-2 beatdown of Utica, Cardington definitely has been pushed in the district finals over the years. The Pirates survived a 3-2 win against Johnstown in 2017 and held off a Utica rally in an 8-6 win in 2018 before beating West Jeff 2-1 last year.
With the exception of last year when games were played at the better seed's home and 2020 when the season was canceled in Ohio, all the district title wins have come at Pickerington Central.
"Tournament games you just want to win," Brininger said. "Whatever it takes to win, I don’t really care what happens."
On Friday, the Pirates faced a familiar foe in Centerburg, a team they handled 14-2 and 11-1 in a pair of regular season league games in April.
This one would be different.
"It’s really hard to beat a team three times in one season, no matter what the score. No matter what the score is, tournament is a different beast, especially when you come to a field where the dimensions are totally different from anything we play at or they play at," Brininger said.
Centerburg started the game with a leadoff home run, something the eighth-seeded Trojans did in their 8-5 win over Fairbanks in the district semifinals.
Cardington pitcher Genevieve Longsdorf struck out the next six batters she faced and ended the game with 14 strikeouts.
"It was like they’ve seen us three times and we’ve seen them three times,
Linkous said. "It’s coming in and battling and making sure we understand the assignment. We come here to win. We don’t care what the score is at the end of the game as long as we’re up. As long as you come in and play your game and get on base and score and do our jobs, we’re good."
Linkous in the leadoff spot and Dana Bertke right behind her made sure of it. Linkous bunted for a single in the bottom of the first inning, and after trying to move her along with a similar bunt, Bertke settled for a two-run blast for a 2-1 lead.
"I was thinking, ‘See the ball; hit the ball.’ Do whatever I can. I just hit it, I guess," Bertke said. "Coach Tod always stresses to us to not let them have a little bit of leeway. Step on their throat is what he always tells us. I thought it was super important that we immediate shut them down."
Hailee Edgell followed up the homer with a single and moved to third after a steal and wild pitch. Ari Simpson then singled her in for a 3-1 lead in the first inning.
In the second inning, Linkous again bunted herself aboard, only this time it was Edgell who hit a two-run homer for a 5-1 lead.
Linkous admitted there was no panic in the Pirates dugout.
"We’ve got this under control," she said of the team's mindset when down 1-0. "We know we’re going to come back from that, and we’re going to score double if not triple the times of that. We’re going to keep playing this game the way it’s supposed to be played."
The damage was done. While there was no more scoring, Cardington finished with 10 hits with Linkous getting three singles, Bertke adding two singles to her homer and Edgell getting a single and homer. Longsdorf pitched a two-hitter with no walks.
Up next is a trip to the Elida regional for the state's No. 2 ranked team in Division III. The Pirates will play Tinora, an upset 2-1 district title winner over third-ranked Otsego. The Sweet 16 game will be played Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
"I’m glad we’re there," Brininger said of heading back to the northwest Ohio regional for the sixth time. "We’ve played there before. We’ve seen the field so it’s nothing that’s going to be a surprise for us."
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Harding tennis duo drops in district
LEWIS CENTER — The Marion Harding boys tennis doubles team of Brady Wink and Mateusz Lisiecki lost to Upper Arlington's Ryan Baxley and Jackson Lloyd 3-6, 4-6 in a close match in the first round of the Division I district tournament on Wednesday.
The Presidents as a team ended the season 17-4 and 12-0 in the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference. The school had their first boys tennis district qualifiers in 12 years and won seven district-level matches as a team. The Prexies finished 83-22 in regular season individual matches.
The team will miss its four seniors: Wink, Zane Menzie, Evan Bonsel, and Asa Deeren.
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Cardington claims sixth straight softball district championship
