An offense that did enough, a stellar defensive effort and solid pitching was the perfect combination to capture the district title on Monday afternoon.

First the pitching...Luke Beverlin mowed through the Bulldog lineup for the first five innings as he set them down in order in four of those innings.  

Defense...When the Bulldogs threatened in the fourth, a ground ball headed to center field was cut off by a diving Sam Weller who promptly scrambled to his feet and fired a strike to first base to end the inning and keep the Bulldogs off the board.

Offense...The Cardinals made the most of their six hits.  Hunter Shull drove in the first two runs with a one out double in the second inning.  Andrew Young drilled a triple to center field and was promptly driven home on a sac fly from Mason Williams in the third inning.

The Cardinals got on the board first with a two run bottom of the second.  Shaun Hunt double to start the inning which was followed by a walk to Christian Brock.  After a strike out, Shull drove a double into left center to plate both runners.  The triple from Young to start the third inning had the crowd buzzing as he looked to try and score but was held up at third.  It was only a momentary stop as Williams delivered the sac fly and the Cardinals were on top 3-0.

The Bulldogs threatened in the latter innings.  After scoring the lone run in the sixth, they had the tying runs on base with only one out in the top of the seventh.  A hit batter and a single had put two aboard and a call to bullpen brought in Brett Korth.  Korth fell behind 3-0 to the hitter, but battled back to a full count.  When he coaxed a fly ball to center, the Bulldog runner at second lost track of the outs and was all headed to third.  Young tossed the ball back into the infield and when Cohen Epler stepped on the second base bag, the District Championship belonged to the Cardinals.

This is the third consecutive district title for the Cardinals and the fourth in the last five tournaments.  They will now travel to Kearney on Saturday with a final four berth on the line.

You can watch the full-game highlights and a post-game interview from KOAM here.