Cardinal baseball team captures district title

It is on to the regionals for the Cardinal baseball team after defeating Rogers City, 7-6 and Inland Lakes, 15-3 in last week’s district tournament in Rogers City.

The Cards will play Atlanta in the 10 a.m. game at Sault Ste. Marie Saturday. The winner of the first game squares off with the winner of the Norway vs. Rudyard game.

The regional winner will play in the Traverse City West quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Last Saturday, the Cardinals notched a dramatic come from behind win over the host Hurons in the semifinals.

Trailing 6-2 heading into the last inning, the Cardinals fought and scratched out five runs and moved on to the district finals.

Rogers City (12-19) squandered chances to get out of the inning while the Cards took advantage of every opportunity.

“In that game, the boys never got their chins down and fought hard the whole game long. They put up five in that last inning—all with one out. That is unbelievable. They never stopped and they never gave up. I am so proud of the boys,” said coach Mike Crull.

He said a strength of the team has been the pitching staff.

“We knew all along that anytime we took the field we had the best pitching staff. It took a little while to get going in that game, but better late than never,” he said.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Andrew Perry drew a walk. A wild pitch moved him to second and he scored on a single from Tommy Auger. Chris Cleaver’s single moved Auger to second.

Then the Hurons had a chance to end the game on a possible double play ball off the bat of Andrew Prow. But Prow hustled down the line to beat out the throw at first keeping the inning alive.

Then with two outs, Matt Tollini was hit by a pitch, Justin Gedda singled down the third base line. Chae Whitsitt’s infield single knocked in the tying run.

That set up the winning play. Cody Whitsitt could not have dropped the ball in a better place on a swinging bunt.

CARDINAL PLAYERS and coaches (left) pose for a photo with the district championship trophy earned Saturday with wins over Rogers City and Inland Lakes. Above, players mob the mound after the final out of the district championship game. (Photos by Richard Lamb)

 

Taking a full cut, but only nipping a piece of the ball, his dribbler landed safely between third base and home, allowing him to beat the throw to first as Gedda came across the plate with the winning run.

The Cardinals struck first with a run in the first inning, but Rogers City came back with three runs in the fourth inning to take the lead.

Rogers City tacked on two runs in the sixth.

Onaway (19-6) went on to defeat Inland Lakes 15-3 to claim the district title, the program’s first since 2000. Prow went all six innings in the championship game, allowing six hits while striking out 14.

At the plate, he had four hits while Cleaver added three with three RBI.