Cardinal Newman’s shortstop Alex August (l) gets the throw from Erin Brown to record the final out against Wilson Hall. Photos by Jim Marczesky Wilson Hall’s pitcher Ansley Ard went yard, but it wasn’t enough as Cardinal Newman escaped with a 3–2 win during the opening round of the SCISA softball playoffs on May 7.

After the Lady Cardinals scored early to take a 1–0 lead, the two teams relied on solid defense and steller pitching by Ard and Cardinal Newman’s Nazley Wilson to get out of several jams, and the score remained the same until the fourth inning.

The Cardinals finally put another run on the board in the bottom of the fourth after Erin Brown stroked a single, advanced on a fielder’s choice, and scored on a Courtney Poston hit to left field. Wilson Hall ended the scoring with a nifty strike–’em– out– throw–’em–out with runners on second and third, as Poston was caught in an inning–ending pickle after taking a huge lead off second.

Cardinal Newman pitcher Nazley Wilson Ard hit the line–drive homer to center field to close the gap to 2–1 in the top of the fifth, but that was all the Lady Barons could muster as Caroline Cunningham flied out and Annabelle Dallery bounced out to end the inning.

Wilson Hall tied the score in the sixth on a two–out single by Erin Carter, who advanced on a Jordain Edmundson single, and scored after Cardinal Newman made an error on a quick throw to first.

The Lady Cards broke through for what would be the winning run after Annalise Hughen stroked a single to left field, and Alex August reached and scored on a hit by Teresa Lattimore that featured a botched pickoff play.

Wilson Hall threatened to tie it up after Ard reached on an error, but Cardinal Newman made three quick outs to leave the runner stranded on second.

Ard, who pitched the entire game and hit her third dinger of the season, said she thought the home run offering “was probably an outside pitch.”

“I didn’t really know if it was out of there, but I hoped it was,” she said.

Cardinal Newman then beat Laurence Manning to advance to the next round, but fell twice to Thomas Hayward Academy on May 8 and was eliminated from the playoffs.