09/28/2026
What a day and weekend for these ladies as they won our own Fall Frenzy tournament by going 4-0 in total defeating some very good teams but none bigger than the 13-12 come from behind victory over Anjo in the championship game. After a come from victory in the semifinals, the Cardinals fell behind 2-0 in the first inning as Natalie Laskowski started in the circle but was helped out by two great catches in center field by Kailyn Rigerman and Hayley Richards in right field. The Cardinals responded with five of their own as Peyton Comstock, Leah Johnson Lilly Gaylor, MJ and Hayley Richards all scored to make the score 5-2. McKenzie Bauder had a beautiful sacrifice bunt and Amileah Muhisin ripped an RBI double to round out the inning. In the second, Anjo plated to more runs to cut the lead to 5-4 followed by a scoreless inning for the Cardinals.
In the third, things came undone a bit as Anjo scored seven runs for an 11-5 lead chasing Natalie out of the circle and bringing McKenzie Bauder in. Mckenzie had just pitched six solid innings in the semifinals, but was up to the task as she only gave up one run over her four innings of work. Meanwhile, the offense put two on the board in the third to make it 11-7. Both MJ and Natalie scored as it was MJ and McKenzie supplying the hits to cut into the Anjo lead. In the fourth inning, Lilly Gaylor had two great catches at third base and Natalie had one of her own at shortstop to limit Anjo to scoring just one run making the score 12-7. MJ scored again following her third hit of the game to make the score 12-8 as Hayley ripped an RBI single after four complete innings.
Two Bauder strikeouts and another great catch by Natalie at her shortstop position again kept Anjo off the board while Amileah Muhisin, Kailyn Rigerman and Payton Comstock all scored to make it 12-11 give innings. MJ had the big hit with another 2-run single followed by hits from Kailyn, Peyton and Hayley. Kenzie got into a little trouble in the sixth, but a catch by her and two more great plays by Natalie kept the score at 12-11. In the bottom of the sixth, Amileah singled and scored, and Kailyn bunted her over allowing Peyton to drive in the tying run followed by a hard rip to third by Leah Johnson driving in the go ahead run 13-12. The top of the seventh wouldnt be easy as Anjo sent up the meat of the order, but again McKenzie would catch a pop up and Natalie made two more great plays at shortstop, including the final pit with the tying run at third and the championship win for the Cardinals. What a win for these girls as most of them play on the 12u and 14u teams, but it never phased them when things got tough and players got hurt like Mya and Hannah, not too mention the flu bug sidelining Grace for the day and Ari and Reece unable to make the games as well. Most teams would find it hard to compete, missing that many players, but we just pull up our younger girls and keep working. So proud of you all and can't wait to see where this experience takes this team moving forward. What an effort and what a game vs a very good and sportsman team in Anjo. Go-FastPitch-Go!
