Cardinals Gather Their Second Win Against the Blue Sox This Season

By Olivia Carson
After returning home with their first win of the season last Sunday over Clover Hill, the Blue Sox came ready to compete against the Grottoes Cardinals tonight at Stonewall Memorial Park. Although the Blue Sox were not able to collect another win tonight, they were able to put up a good fight.
 
The Cardinals started the scoring off early in the first inning with a wild throw by the Blue Sox catcher Jack Bourdon allowing Cardinal Dylan Nicely to complete the first run of the night. Grottoes was able to add on to their initial lead with two runs in the second inning off of a solid hit from Dalton Nicely.
 
Elkton responded in the bottom of the second when Koice Quintanilla singled off of a line drive to center field, scoring Jeremy Kwolek. The Blue Sox return to scoring in the bottom of the fourth once they receive a home run from Cam Shields with no one on base. Quintanilla scored Kwolek once again off of a bunt to tie up the game 3 - 3 at the end of the fourth inning.
 
Grottoes breaks the tie soon after with two back-to-back singles from Dylan Nicely and Jacob Merica to score two more runs in the top of the fifth. Their lead continues to grow as Keegan Woolford manages to hit two home runs two innings in a row to put the Cardinals up 10 - 3 at the top of the eighth.
 
The Blue Sox were unable to score for 4 innings after a Grottoes pitching change to Ty Lam in the fifth. The Cardinals decided to change up pitchers again, subbing in Trevor Croson who allowed Elkton to get a 3 RBI double from Canon Davies in the bottom of the eighth leaving the score 10 - 6.
 
Elkton would get one more run in the ninth after yet another Grottoes pitching change to Clayton Michael. Cam Shield would collect a line drive single to left field scoring Bourdon to end the matchup with a 11 - 7 loss against the Cardinals.
 
Grottoes now advances to a 5 - 3 record while Elkton is brought down to 1 - 8 for the year.
 
Outfielder for the Cardinals, Keegan Woolford was very impressed with his team's performance and has confidence that they will be able to come out strong against the Bucks in their next matchup.
 
“I think we played well, put all three phases together. We pitched well, played well and we hit well,” says Woolford. “Hopefully we can duplicate what we did last time against [the Bucks]...it should be a good game.”
 
The Cardinals defeated the Bucks 7 -1 previously this season and will play them once more on Saturday night June 26 in Clover Hill. The Blue Sox, however, will travel to Broadway to compete against the Bruins for the second time on Sunday June 27.