No. 1 Carlisle overpowers Maquoketa, 5-0

FORT DODGE -- The Maquoketa Cardinals needed near-perfection. They didn't get it.Top-ranked Carlisle jumped in front immediately, and Seyerra Dubois' three-run double in the top of the seventh inning broke open a 5-0 victory over the No. 9 Cardinals in a Class 3A quarterfinal at the state softball tournament Tuesday night at the Rogers Sports Complex."They're the No. 1 team for a reason," said Maquoketa Coach Sara Nelson. "To beat a team like that, you have to play flawless."We made some mistakes, and we weren't able to redeem ourselves."An error allowed Carlisle (36-2) to score in the top of the first, and the Wildcats were effective frontrunners the rest of the way.Carlisle added an insurance run in the fifth on Alyssa Witt's RBI single, then Dubois busted it open it the seventh.The Wildcats made consistent contact; Maquoketa pitcher Hailey Bickford did not strike out a batter. And they played errorless ball in the field."They're a solid team. They didn't make errors," Bickford said. "We did, and you can't have that in this game."Carlisle will face No. 4 Chariton (25-4) in a semifinal at 3:30 Thursday afternoon.Bickford had two of the Cardinals' three hits, including a double in the bottom of the fourth.Maquoketa trailed 1-0 at the time, and had runners at second and third with one out. But they couldn't push a run across.Maquoketa (32-7) concludes its state experience Wednesday. The Cardinals face Waverly-Shell Rock at noon, then play in the fifth- or seventh-place game at 4 p.m.

Carlisle ..................................... 100 010 3 -- 5  7  0

Maquoketa ............................... 000 000 0 -- 0  3  2

Jordan Gronewold (W) and Chelsea Warner. Hailey Bickford (L) and Shannon Daurelle.