Cardinals take second in Miller Tournament

Lady Cardinals softball advance to district semifinals over Wheaton
Cardinals Baseball
Two years removed from winning the Miller baseball tournament behind a strong showing from Jeff Lung, Miller had the opportunity to do it again this time with Lung as the assistant coach. However, a 3-0 loss to Southwest in the championship game prevented Miller from earning the achievement.
The tournament began on Monday against Southwest Conference foe Pierce City. The Eagles struck first but Miller responded with a huge nine-run bottom of the first highlighted by a two-RBI double from Colton Brown to give Miller a 3-1 lead. Miller tacked on three more in the second inning to extend the lead, 12-2, but the final blow came in the bottom of the fourth inning where a six run inning put the Cardinals up by the final score of 18-6. Brady Johnson had his mark all over this game as he finished 2-3 with two triples and a walk, and ended with 5 RBI's.
The win set up a matchup with fellow small school hopeful Exeter. Garrett Stewart was masterful on the mound only allowing a single unearned run in Miller’s victory. The Cardinals put up two runs in the bottom of the first inning and continued to tack on runs nearly every inning. Stewart was also a terror in the batter’s box, going a perfect 4-4 with a pair of doubles and five RBI's. His five RBI's led the way to an 8-1 victory for the Cardinals and career win 299 for Miller coach Justin Snider. More importantly, the win set up a championship game against Southwest.
Miller had several opportunities to take the lead early in the game starting in the second inning where a pair of walks stranded two runners in the inning. The Cardinals seemed to be in business again in the fourth inning where Johnson's leadoff walk was followed by another walk and a single, but Miller had a base-running blunder that cost an out and couldn’t get the big hit, which stranded two more runners in scoring position as the game remained scoreless through 3 1/2 innings.
Errors has been a thorn for the Cardinals in their losses this season and they reared their ugly head again in the bottom of the fourth inning as Southwest capitalized on two in the inning for three runs. Miller managed to load the bases again in the sixth inning and got two runners on in the seventh, but they were unable to push any runs across as the Trojans held on for a 3-0 win, as the celebration for the next Miller tournament was delayed at least another year and the quest for 300 for Snider continues.
Miller has a jammed packed week ahead as they hosted 22-6 Purdy, Monday before traveling to Diamond, Tuesday and Pleasant Hope, Wednesday to complete the 2023 regular season.
The Cardinals received the No. 3 seed in the Class 2 District 12 tournament that will open this Friday at 4:30 p.m. against College Heights at Miller. The winner of that game will take on the defending District 12 champion Marion C. Early next Monday.
 
Lady Cardinals Softball
Miller softball has extended their win streak to five games after defeating Wheaton 16-0 in the first round of districts Friday night.
The district No. 2 seed opened the week with one final tune-up game against a solid Stockton team that has won 11 games this season. The Lady Cardinals took care of business and defeated the Lady Tigers 8-4 before Districts began Friday.
Miller earned the No. 2 seed in the Class 1 District 5 tournament and drew a favorable matchup in the opening round. They took on the Wheaton Lady Tigers whom Miller defeated March 25 by a score of 15-0, and this one would be very similar as their prior matchup. Miller jumped all over the Wheaton pitching, as they would bat around their line up twice before they got their first two outs of the game. The Lady Cardinals ended up scoring 15 runs in the first inning and put up one more in the second inning to get the run-rule victory 16-0 to extend their season.
The Lady Cardinals improved to 15-5 on the season as the postseason continued on Monday. They took on Billings who is fresh off an upset over No. 3 seed Exeter. This will be Miller’s second time seeing Billings, following a 15-0 victory back in March in the season opener. The championship round was on Tuesday.