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REGIONAL SOFTBALL DIVISION IV PREVIEW

Bats, Ryan powering Cardinals

Triad has outscored teams 37-4 in 2006 postseason tourney action so far.

The day after Tiger Woods won the 2002 U.S. Open he was at the driving range working on a flaw he found in his swing. Some thought his drive to succeed had gotten the best of him.

Not Triad coach Shari Dixon — she completely understands.

After beating Mechanicsburg 9-0 last week in the sectional finals, the Cardinals practiced every day before Saturday's district final against Covington. And at 7:45 a.m. on game day, the Cardinals were taking batting practice at Triad High School.

Four hours later, Triad run-ruled Covington 12-0 to reach the regional semifinals for the second straight year.

Triad (25-5) hopes the three days since the Covington game will be good preparation for Pleasant Hill Newton (25-5) today at 5 p.m. at Wayne High School. The Cardinals don't know much about Newton, except that it lost to Covington in the regular season.

Dixon said the days off from the deluge or rain 10 days ago was the turning point for her Cardinals. While other teams might have been getting frustrated by planning to play games only to have them canceled, the Cardinals were going to hit either way.

"We needed the rest," Dixon said. "You don't have time to work on hitting techniques during the season because there isn't much time. The rain allowed us to do that. It's almost like a new season."

To freshman pitcher Morgan Ryan, it is a new season. After sharing pitching duties with senior Ashley Crowder and sophomore Chelsie Brooks, Ryan has emerged in the tournament as Triad's ace and seems to be comfortable after throwing two straight shutouts.

She, and the hot bats, are the reasons Triad has outscored its opponents 37-4 in the tourney. Dixon said she wasn't sure how the freshman was going to react to game situations, so she didn't want to rush Ryan's early-season progression. But in the back of her mind, she wanted Ryan ready for a deep tournament run.

"She came in and closed a few games for us and pitched really well," Dixon said. "The one moment that stands out in her season is the West Liberty-Salem game. We played at West Liberty and beat them."

Ryan came in to relieve Brooks in that game in the third inning after the Tigers scored four runs in the second. Ryan went the rest of the way and held WLS to two runs as Triad won 9-6. She's been a starter ever since.