BY BRIAN GOSSET
X – @gosset41
X – @gmsportsmedia1
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ARLINGTON – If it was up to them, the Plano John Paul II Cardinals would love to play San Antonio Antonian Prep in the softball state championship game every year.
For the third time in the last five years, JPII defeated the Apaches for the TAPPS D1 title – 12-2 in five innings at UT-Arlington’s Allan Saxe Field on Tuesday. The Cardinals beat Antonian to win state 11-10 in 2023 and 4-2 in 2021 (the program’s first championship).
JPII ends the season 28-2 and winners of its final 14 games. This was the team’s fifth straight trip to the TAPPS softball state tournament. Its only losses this spring – against 6A Boswell and 2024 5A champ Melissa.
“When you have that group of seniors and they have been on the field for you for four years, they have made it really easy – they’re great leaders and great ball players. They do what’s asked and they’re definitely program changers,” coach Jayme Baker-Nelson said.
“We played a tougher schedule this year. We went against some big teams and kept scores competitive. The girls know they can hit so once they started hitting, it’s contagious. Typically we’re home run hitters, but they made that adjustment and got some base hits and celebrated those hits.”
The Cardinals started a two-out rally in the top of the first inning with a Bridget Mulligan RBI walk followed by an RBI single from Sadie Zipser.
The Apaches pulled with 2-1 with an RBI sac fly.
JPII led 3-1 in the second on a two-out double from Abby McGraw. Senior pitcher Carly Holman gave up a lead off double before striking out the side.
The Cards pulled away with seven runs in the fourth inning, which included a two-run double by Allie Kloeber, RBI single by Reagan McGraw and two-run singles by Abby VanVolkenburgh and Izzy Weber to extend the lead to 10-1.
JPII added two more runs in the fifth to go up 12-1. Looking to extend the game, Antonian scored a run in the bottom of the inning and had runners on second and third before Holman got the final strikeout of her amazing high school career.
Holman, a UT-Dallas signee, finished with one earned run on five hits with one walk and six strikeouts. She struck out nine batters during Monday against Argyle Liberty Christian when JPII won the state semifinal game 11-1 in six innings.
“It felt great and it was everything I wished for. I have been thinking about it this whole last year – what we went through last year in the semifinals…it just fueled us,” Holman said.
“When I was in the bullpen warming up, all my coaches said this was great and I threw everything straight where I wanted it,” Holman said. “I took everything that was called and just trusted it.”
VanVolkenburgh, who is a signee of Rider University in New Jersey, led all players with three runs batted in against Antonian. She drove in a pair in the semis vs Liberty Christian. Holman had her 11th home run during the semifinal round.
“It feels great and honestly I wouldn’t want to win it with any other team. By far the best team I’ve had,” VanVolkenburgh said. “It was the state championship game and everyone wanted to go out with a bang especially the seniors with our last game ever.”
