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The sun shines with a slight wind blowing. Perfect weather —perfect weather for redemption.
Last Friday, the girls’ varsitysoftball team took on the Urban High School Blues in a rivalry that startedyears ago. In 2007, the Cardinals beat the Blues, only to lose the next year ina close battle in which the Cardinals lost 3-2. But this year was different —the Cardinals were prepared and redeemed themselves 6-3. “We lost to them last year by onerun,” senior co-captain and second basemen Kristina Tran said. “It felt goodgetting back at them this year.” Despite the final score, the Blues put up atough fight. In their March 13 meeting, theCards and the Blues were in a stalemate until the 4th inning whensenior third basemen Erica Bates hit a ball down right field, allowing juniorcatcher Chloe Roddy and senior co-captain and center fielder Sophia Chen toscore. The Cardinals could have been content and called it an inning, but theywanted more. With two outs and the bases loaded,senior right fielder Connie Lin stepped up to the plate. Fellow teammates onthe bench cheered Lin on, hoping for a miracle — Lin didn't disappoint. “Inever hit it to right field before,” Lin said with a smile. “It felt so good tomake contact, but I was also really nervous.” Lin’s hit cleared the bases,scoring three runs and putting the Cardinals up by five. “I was shocked andsurprised but was happy to get some runs in,” Lin said. Sensing a losing battle, the Bluesswitched pitchers early in the 5th inning, opting for one withfaster and more consistent pitches. Although the Cardinals’ hitting performancedecreased, they still managed to score another run in the 7th inningto earn the victory. Along with a strong offense, theCardinals kept up their defense too. “We had to shut them down with our defenseto hold them from scoring any more runs,” Tran said. The Cardinals worked hard to getinto this position, especially after losing seven seniors from last year. “Fromthe beginning, it was a huge hit to us, losing most of the starters,” Transaid. “But it allowed some of us to step up and fill in the gaps.” Junior pitcher Alina Werth agreed.“It was hard at first, but we really came together,” Werth said. “While we knowit’s about having fun, it’s still about being serious if we want to win.” Coach Sascha Taylor-Ray has a highgoal for her team “to play consistently throughout the season,” she said.Things are looking good so far; on March 10, the Cardinals blew away Galileo,15-0 in their first season game. Come out and support the girls at3:30 p.m. today at Rossi Park in the Battle of the Birds game. |
