Mounting a massive comeback punctuated by back-to-back bombs, the Labette Cardinals swept the Southwestern Spartans in Saturday’s doubleheader, 5-2, 13-12.
Game 2 saw the Cardinals stitch together a comefrom- behind effort — Labette trailed 6-0 after the first inning and 11-6 in the sixth.
Trailing 12-9 going into the final frame, the Cardinals belted back-to-back jacks to secure the victory.
Jaden Jordan accounted for the two-run tying home run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh — the sophomore first baseman had two home runs on the day.
“She looked good at the plate all day,” Labette head coach Ryan Phillips said. “Every ball she hit, she hit square and hard. She’s seeing the ball well and hitting the ball to all fields. That’s giving her the opportunity to see success.”
Hailey Presley, a utility freshman for the Cardinals, followed up Jordan’s homer with a solo blast of her own to walk it off. Presley was on tap for the loss in the circle as she allowed 10 of Southwestern’s 12 runs in four innings of work — seven of the 10 runs were unearned with six coming in the first inning.
“The first inning was a tough one for her,” Phillips said. “We should’ve been out of the inning with some fly balls, then she gives up a home run to go up six. But then she had the opportunity to come up in a big situation and she answered. She hits the heck out of the ball when she gets her lower half involved, and the hope is that she can protect Jaden in the lineup.”
Taylor Palmer, who’s established herself as Labette’s ace, posted a complete game, two-hit outing in Game 1.
“She just gives us an opportunity to win,” Phillips said. “She keeps hitters off balance. She throws a lot of strikes to keep the defense involved. We made mistakes behind her, but she went right back at it. She still trusts her defense to work.”
Phillips is still hunting a reliable No. 2 pitcher to go behind Palmer. The full spectrum of Labette’s issues in the circle were on display Saturday — Presley sandwiched two zeroes with 10 runs, Grace Osborne only recorded one out and Jaelah McDannald escaped a sixth-inning jam thanks to an outfield assist.
“We’re going to continue to see our arms have opportunities,” Phillips said. “I trust every single one of our pitchers to throw against anybody we face. They just have to understand that themselves. Grace had a good outing a few days ago, but then struggled today. You’ll have bad days. We just can’t have multiple bad days. They need to compete early and be consistent.”
Saturday’s two wins were the first sweep the Cardinals registered in 2025, improving their record to 4-10.
“It was huge not only to come out with a sweep but to have a big comeback win,” Phillips said. “Our schedule is brutal. We don’t take it lightly. But we run into that with our conference schedule. That’s why we do what we do. Because we’re capable of going deep into the postseason.”
Up next
Labette faced NEO A&M on Monday at home. The Cardinals then have a week off before facing Butler on March 24.
