Cardinals advance to semifinals

HOISINGTON – The Hoisington/Central Plains bats came alive with 12 runs in the final three innings for a 12-2 run-rule victory over Russell/Victoria Friday. Last year’s state qualifier Hoisington (13-10) will meet No. 1 seed Holcomb (18-5) in Tuesday’s semifinal at Russell. Colby (13-8) meets Cimarron/Ingalls (13-8) in the second semifinal.

CARDINALS 12, RUSSELL 2 – The Cardinals converted a half-dozen Bronco errors into nine unearned runs to cruise to a run-rule victory. Hoisington ended the game with an 8-run fifth inning. Cardinal pitcher Tony Moore (4-1) struck out seven batters and threw 75 pitches to stay eligible for next week’s semifinal and championship games.

The Cardinals threw out four Bronco baserunners. Moore picked off Sam Thielen and Wyatt Griffin in the first inning. Catcher Marcus Ingram threw out Thielen stealing in the third inning. Ingram flipped to Moore to tag Matt Pfeifer out at home.

Mason Martin and Moore delivered RBIs in a 3-run third inning. Rhen Galla scored on an error. Russell’s Pfeifer delivered an RBI and Max Evans scored on an error. Ingram scored on Aiden Hekele’s groundout for a 4-2 lead.

Ingram, Gratton Dalton, Mason Martin, Galla and Lane French delivered RBIs in the wild fifth inning. The Broncos compounded issues with four errors.

Russell 000 20 – 2 2 6

Hoisington 003 18 – 12 10 4

Evans, Griffin (5) and Rohr. Moore and Ingram. W—Moore, 4-1. L—Rohr, 1-3. 2B—H—Mason, French.

3A RUSSELL—5-14—SEMIFINALS—Holcomb 18-5 vs. Hoisington/Central Plains 13-10, 2 p.m; Colby 13-8 vs. Cimarron/Ingalls 13-8, 4:30 p.m.; FIRST ROUND—Holcomb 1, Goodland 0; Hoisington/Central Plains 12, Russell/Victoria 2; Colby 7, SW Heights 3; Cimarron/Ingalls 8, Lakin 2