Strong efforts in the final regular season games for the Carrington Cardinals put them in position for a few program firsts.
On Thursday, May 9, the Cards trounced south sub-Region 2 opponent Larimore, 25-4, to earn a home postseason tournament matchup with those same Polar Bears this past Thursday.
In the first inning, 14 CHS batters came across to score, with 20 coming to the plate against the beleaguered Polar Bear pitchers.
Katie Allmaras went 3-for-4 in the win, scoring four runs along with Kaydence VanRay and driving in three RBIs. Lauren Hendrickson also registered three hits in her four at-bats, and two hits each came from VanRay, Calleigh Hewitt and Brynn Smith.
Hewitt took the circle for the pitching win, giving up seven hits over five innings, walking four and striking out eight.
For Larimore, Addie Larson had two hits, and Addison Dietzler, Micayla Sharp and Libbie McDonald had RBI singles in the Polar Bears' loss.
The Cards then played at Midseason Madness IV in Fargo May 10-11, taking a tough 9-8 loss to HWC and 8-5 defeat at the hands of Washburn/Center-Stanton before dropping a 17-7 decision to Region 3 power and state-ranked opponent Des Lacs-Burlington/Lewis & Clark to finish at 0-3 for the event.
Carrington put a bow on their 2024 spring campaign with their first-ever win over the Hornets, 13-3, behind the pitching of VanRay and home runs by Maara Kutz and Hendrickson.
A big fifth inning for the Cards in which they scored seven runs was bookended by two triples from Isabel Wendel.
The Cards enter regional tournament action with a 4-7 overall record and 3-8 Larimore as the opponent. The winner will face top North sub-region seed Grafton (6-4).
Any loss before the semifinal round will mean elimination for Carrington. The top two finishers will advance to the State B Tournament.