Cardinals Capture Class 3A Russell Baseball Regional Crown

The Hoisington-Central Plains Cardinal Baseball team earned their second consecutive trip to the Class 3A State Tournament by winning the Class 3A Russell Baseball Regional Tuesday evening at the Shaffer Sports Complex.

The #4 seed Cardinals who advanced to the semifinals last Friday with a 12-2 win over #5 seed Russell-Victoria, fell behind top seed Holcomb 4-0 after one inning.  After that, Redbird pitcher Tony Moore held the Longhorns scoreless while Hoisington-Central Plains tallied 10 unanswered runs on their way to a 10-4 victory and a spot in the title game.

Tuesdays second semifinal was close the entire way before #3 seed Cimarron-Ingalls plated a run in the top of the seventh inning and hung on to knock off #2 seed Colby 4-3.

In the championship game, Hoisington-Central Plains (14-9) jumped on the Bluejays for eight runs in the first three innings and cruised to a 13-2 win in a game that ended after six innings due to the run rule.

The Cardinals who lost to Humboldt in the first round of last year's Class 3A State Tournament will make their return to this year's event on May 23 and 24 at Tointon Family Stadium on the campus of Kansas State University in Manhattan.