Cardinals win 3, fight for share of conference crown

The Prescott Cardinal softball team is set for a showdown with undefeated Baldwin-Woodville, with a share of the Middle Border Conference title on the line.

The two teams were set to face off at Baldwin-Woodville at 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 9. The Cardinals are 11-1 in Middle Border play and 18-2 overall. The only league loss was at home against B-W, 4-2, May 6. The game will feature two of the state’s elite teams. Baldwin-Woodville is ranked second in the state in Division 2, while Prescott is ranked sixth in the state in Division 3.

This is the final week of conference play, and the Cardinals grabbed the number one seed in their WIAA sectional. They will open their quest for a state championship at home Monday, June 14 against the winner of the Osseo-Fairchild-La Crosse Aquinas game being played June 9.

The winner from that round of play advances to a game on

Photo by Gaylen Bicking.

Photo by Gaylen Bicking.

June 16. Sectional finals will be held Wednesday, June 23 in Arcadia. The state softball tournament will be played June 28-30 at Bay Port High School and UW-Green Bay.

The Cardinals are taking a full head of steam into the postseason. They played three games in three days Wednesday through Friday last week and picked up three wins.

“I believe we are prepared for the postseason. Right now, we’ve put ourselves in a conference championship race and are focused on one game at a time,” said coach Nick Johnson.

The Cardinals took care of non-conference foe River Falls, 14-9, on Wednesday before returning home Thursday to defeat Ellsworth 9-6. The Cards took care of Somerset, 13-3, on Friday.

Big first against RF

The Cardinals picked up four runs in the first inning en route to a 14-9 win at River Falls.

A three-run home run to centerfield by Maddie Miller brought three runs in. Ariana Temmers started off the scoring attack, scoring on a passed ball. Prescott added a run in the third inning when Grace Franco reached on an error and scored on a single by Liz Rohl.

In the sixth inning, Isabella Lenz hit a solo homer to center field. The Cardinals went up 9-4 in the sixth inning with Isabel Matzek, Sydney Matzek, Lenz and Franco picking up key hits.

River Falls came within a run with a big sixth inning, but Prescott added a run in the sixth and four runs in the seventh.

Lenz picked up four hits, knocked in two runs and scored three runs, while Rohl had three hits, two runs batted in and two runs scored. Miller had six runs batted in.

Taylor Graf pitched all seven innings for the Cardinals, and she notched five strikeouts.

Panthers can’t come back

The Cardinals went out to a 7-1 lead after four innings and held off Ellsworth, 9-6, on Thursday.

Franco singled in Sydney Matzek in the first to open up scoring for the Cardinals. Miller smacked a home run in the second inning to put Prescott up, 2-0.

Ellsworth scored in the fourth when Aubrey Wittenberg knocked in Desi Peterson.

In the big Prescott fourth, Temmers had the key hit with a double to right field.

Temmers, Franco, Miller, Heather Hudak, Mackenzie Wallin and Isabel Matzek all had two-hit games for the Cardinals. Temmers and Miller each knocked in two runs.

Sydney Matzek pitched for Prescott, striking out five in the seven innings.

For Ellsworth, Autumn Earney and McKenna Wright each had two runs batted in, while Arianna Lalley had two hits. Reese Nelson and Kallie Beissel shared pitching duties.

Ellsworth’s big inning was the seventh. Brianna Maurer earned a walk to start the rally and scored on a fielder’s choice. Beissel then knocked in Breanna Giese. Peterson scored the final run, knocked in on a single by McKenna Wright.

Cardinals erupt in sixth

Prescott collected 15 hits including another home run by Miller to defeat Somerset 13-3. Lenz had three runs batted in, while Miller, Franco and Sydney Matzek had two each.

Graf gave up just four Somerset hits while collecting two strike outs on the mound for Prescott.

The Cardinals welcomed #10 junior Maddy Miller to home plate after her home run in last week’s victory against Ellsworth. The Cardinals play this week for a share of the Middle Border Conference Championship.