On the first day of softball practice this year, Cardington-Lincoln High School players looked at the team championship banner hanging in the gym. Their dream is to add another year to that.
“The players understand the work it takes to put another date on the banner for league, district, regional champs,” Coach Tod Brininger told the Mount Vernon News.
The Pirates almost added a state championship last season, but they were thwarted in the semifinals, losing 5-2 to eventual champion Wheelersburg, and they hope to be in running again for the coveted title. The relatively young team, with no seniors and just two juniors, will have to rise to the occasion to do that.
“For the first time in a long time, we are not the favorites,” Brininger said. “(It’s) going to be a tough conference that returns four district champions and a district runner-up out of our seven teams.”
Still, strong competition breeds improvement, so it wouldn’t be out of the question to see the Lady Pirates make another postseason run. They open at 5:15 p.m. March 20, when they host Utica. Knox Morrow Athletic Conference (KMAC) play starts March 29 with a game at Fredericktown.
The Pirates finished 24-4 overall last year, and won the KMAC by going 12-0 in conference play.
The roster includes two returning starters (Genevieve Longsdorf and Ari Simpson) and two others who lettered (Chloe Nida and Morgan Powell).
Although both Simpson and Longsdorf can take the slab, Simpson can also hit for power, belting three home runs last year. In the circle, the two ranked first and second in ERA last season, with Simpson giving up 0.73 runs per game in a relief role and Longsdorf posting a 1.21 ERA over 104 innings pitched.
“We have talented young players, but they have not been on the big stage yet,” Brininger said. “Our goal is the same every year, win the KMAC, win a district title, win a regional title and compete for the state championship.”
Brininger will look to those young players to fill the offensive void left by the graduation of Mac Linkous, who earned KMAC Player of the Year honors last year, and First Team selection Dana Bertke, both of whom were top producers at the plate in the KMAC a year ago.
Brininger, coming off KMAC Coach of the Year recognition, will motivate them using the approach he has used through two decades of coaching baseball and softball.
“We want to empower these young women and make them stronger, more confident and increase their softball knowledge,” the coach said. “(That’s) developed over years of coaching and learning. If you empower these players, they will take ownership over the process.”
The coaching style has paid off, as he has seen a number of players go on to play collegiately. He sees potential in some of those on this year’s roster, too, but Brininger said they still have to work hard to realize it.
The team will grow, he predicted, provided they abide by the guiding principle that has paid off in the past.
“The most important things in life are your relationships and experiences,” Brininger said. “Relationships with your God, your family, each other. We need to develop strong relationships to overcome the adversity we will face, and the shared experiences we will have will last a lifetime.”
