Earlham Echo

July 15, 2025

The Earlham Cardinals softball and baseball teams both lost last week, ending their seasons. The bar is set high at Earlham School for all sports, as it should be. On that measure, neither Cardinal team had a winning record, nor will they advance to the state tournaments this year. But in a 2025 summer sports season filled with highs and lows, the good far outweighed the bad. The kids competed hard, learned a lot about how to play their sports, and grew as human beings.

Cardinal softball won two regional games by a combined score of 17-1 before bowing to a tough Audubon team on the road. Cardinal baseball dominated their first two playoff games, then lost a tough battle with perennial power Martensdale-St. Marys.

Both teams played many inexperienced players this season. While they struggled to find their footing a bit early in the season, by the end of the year, they were able to go toe-to-toe with some of the top teams in the state.

Good things are coming in 2026!

Softball: Cards Lose to Wheelers

Eventually in the playoffs, the Cardinals were going to match up against a top pitcher. That happened in the regional semifinals in Audubon on July 11. The pitcher was Audubon’s Riley Miller, and she and the Cardinals Eden Forcht hooked up in a classic pitcher’s duel, with the Wheelers coming out on top, 1-0.

Miller came in with a modest 11-8 record, but had an ERA near 1.50 and averaged a strikeout-and-a-half per inning pitched. Miller was great, but Forcht was, too. The Cards only got 3 hits against Miller, but Forcht only allowed 1.

That crucial hit by the Wheelers came in the bottom of the 3^rd inning when they scored the game’s only run. With 1 out, Forcht hit Alissa Testroet with a pitch. She advanced to 2^nd on a passed ball, then scored on a single by Taryn Petersen.

Coach Caskey spoke at length with Forcht after he had talked with the team as a whole following the game. When asked about that conversation, he had high praise for his freshman pitcher and her catcher and classmate, Zoe Nixt.

“About halfway through the year, something clicked with them,” said the coach. “All of a sudden, they were getting strikeouts versus giving up hits with two strikes. At the end of the year, we would have bases loaded with 1 out and they’d get us out of jams; getting groundballs or striking out batters. To be a freshman, to start where Eden started and end where she ended—she gave up 1 hit in a regional semifinal. That’s huge.”

The Cardinals threatened in the 5^th inning. Jenna Yetter reached on an error to lead off the inning. An out later, Ally Presler also reached on an error. Keeley Keller’s sacrifice bunt moved the runners into scoring position, but Miller got a strikeout to end the inning.  In the 6^th inning, the Cards got 2-out singles by Haley Glade and Forcht, but both were stranded. Keller singled in the 7^th, but the game ended with another Miller strikeout.

An inexperienced 2025 Earlham team gained confidence as the season progressed. Finishing with a losing record certainly doesn’t tell the story of this team. The entire lineup showed steady improvement, individually and as a unit.

“It’s great when you can see that everybody on the team is getting better,” said Coach Caskey. “They get into situations and no longer think, ‘Now we’re in trouble.’  They know they can come back. When that mentality switched, whenever that took place, that made us better down the stretch.”

Two tremendous seniors, Haley Glade and Kenady Ridout, will be hard to replace next season. But seven starters, more seasoned now, will return—hopefully building on the confidence that was brimming in the final months of 2025. “I told Eden that if there is any way we can pick up where we left off next year,” said Coach Caskey, “think of what we can achieve as a team. With leadership like that in the pitcher and catcher spots, and all the role players, and the juniors that are going to be seniors. With another year under their belt, the sky’s the limit with this group.”

Baseball: Blue Devils Top Cardinals

In a season full of ups and downs, the Cardinals played their best baseball during the second half of the season. After thumping Southwest Valley and East Union in the first two rounds of the district playoffs, Earlham knew they needed to take their game to another level when they played Martensdale-St. Marys (28-5) in the district final. They had to be perfect, or as close to it as possible. That didn’t happen. In losing to the Blue Devils, 7-2, on the road on July 12, the Earlham defense committed some costly errors while the offense got only 2 hits.

 “I actually said that in BP,” said Coach Deling, “that if we can keep it under two errors, we’ll be in this game. I believe that last one in the 6^th inning was our third. It is what it is. It’s a tough game sometimes. There is always a winner and a loser.”

The Blue Devils opened the scoring in the 1^st inning with 2 runs. The damage could have been worse, but Cardinal right fielder Jayden Jensen made a diving catch of a low line drive for the 2^nd out. MSM added another run in the 3^rd after the Cards committed a critical, 2-out error.

Klayton Wolken got the Cardinals going in the 4^th with a leadoff walk, then Konner Keller walked, too. Carter Hohertz followed with a hard groundball to the shortstop. Keller was out at 2^nd, but the Blue Devils 2^nd baseman, trying to turn the double play, threw wild to first base. Wolken scored and Hohertz went to 2^nd. Hohertz went to 3^rd when Blake Tiemeyer grounded out. Dunsky then hit a high chopper that went over the pitcher’s head. The charging short stop booted the ball, Dunsky was safe, and Hohertz scored. The inning continued when Konnar Stiles singled, but Austen Rodgers grounded out to end the inning. The Cardinals trailed, 3-2.

Two good defensive plays by the Cards helped keep the Blue Devils off the scoreboard in the 4^th. Keller made a terrific sliding catch in centerfield to retire the leadoff batter. With a runner on and 1 out, 2^nd basemen Tayten Pickett ran hard into right field to snag a popup that looked like it might fall for a hit. With two runners on, Hohertz got a strikeout to get out of the jam.

The Blue Devils scored a single run on 2 hits in the 5^th. They put the game away with 3 more runs in the 6^th. Two of the runs came as the result of an error and the other was result of a passed ball.

The Cardinals were retired in order the last 2 innings.

Tiemeyer pitched 3-1/3 innings and took the loss. Hohertz relieved, striking out 5 batters in 2-2/3 innings.

After starting the season winning just 5 of 18 games, the Cardinals split their final 12 games. That’s not world-beating, but with a young lineup featuring a ton of new starters—playing the 10^th toughest schedule in Class 1A—the improvement was impressive. Coach Deling credited his senior class, Wolken, Tiemeyer, and Hohertz—for that. “I’m tremendously proud of this group of boys,” said Coach Deling. “The growth throughout the whole season was tremendous. I’m proud of this whole program and the direction we’re going. And all because of those three seniors. They are ball players. They love this game, and they play it the right way. They put the time and effort and sweat in for years, just to be good role models to their younger teammates.”