Competing against Harvest Prep at home in their Division III sectional championship game, virtually everything went right for the Cardington softball team.

The Pirates picked up 16 hits in the game, including three inside-the-park home runs and one that landed out of the park, and also drew 17 walks and had four batters hit by pitch. Meanwhile, Genevieve Longsdorf struck out 13 Warrior batters in pitching a five-inning perfect game. The end result: A 30-0 win for Cardington.

Head coach Baylee Adams was pleased with her players’ approaches at the plate against Harvest Prep pitching that struggled to find the strike zone.

“We’ve been struggling with swinging at not-strikes,” she said. “I constantly yell out to be patient, get your pitch, it’s got to be a perfect pitch. I always give them all the green light for 3-0 because I have confidence in all of them. But we did what we needed to do.”

After Longsdorf struck out the side to open the game, Cardington took advantage of that wildness on the part of the Warriors’ pitching to put up 11 in their half of the first.

While Morgan Powell drove in three of those runs with a hard-hit ball, the action was confined to the infield for nearly all the inning. Four bunt singles along with eight walks and numerous wild pitches played a huge role in staking the Pirates to a big lead.

Cardington took full advantage of those errant pitches to regularly advance on the bases — something Adams said is a strength of her team.

“I think overall, we have really good base-runners,” she said. “Kinstin Henthorn, she strictly does base-runs for us. She’s a junior this year and she’s done a pretty good job for never playing softball before in her life. I’m really proud of the way they did overall today.”

In the second inning, after Celia Hall reached base, Myleigh Bishop provided the first of her team’s inside-the-park home runs to make it a 13-0 game. Later in the frame, after a wild pitch brought in one run and Powell drove in another with a single, Ari Simpson blasted a three-run dinger to make the score 18-0.

And Cardington wasn’t done making big plays. Hall smacked a three-run triple in a seven-run third inning that saw the Pirates increase their lead to a 25-run margin. In the fourth inning, Cardington added five more runs on a pair of inside-the-park homers. With one out, Longsdorf brought in two runs with her hit and Simpson added a three-run inside-the-park home run later in the inning.

Overall, the Pirates had nine extra base hits in the contest and five girls had multi-hit games, with Kayden Burchett finishing with four hits, including a triple and double; Simpson adding a single to her two home runs and Hall adding a triple, double and single. Both Longsdorf and Powell added two hits, with Longsdorf having a home run and Powell contributing a double.

Adams was happy with how her team hit in the game, noting that poor weather forced them to practice indoors while they were preparing for the Warriors.

“Yesterday, we tried to practice outside, but Mother Nature didn’t really like us,” she said. “”We hit inside for about an hour. I hate hitting inside; I hate practicing inside, but again, we did what we needed to do. We got out of here.”

Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS