The Eudora High softball squad saw of this spring’s bevy of rain cancellations as a blessing.

At least that’s how Cardinals coach Cara Kimberlin, the Journal-World’s 2007 All-Area Softball Coach of the Year, chose to look at the persistent wet weather.

“Going into regionals, we had only played five games in three weeks because of weather,” said Kimberlin, who varied practices with activities such as whiffleball games in the high school parking lot and bunting competitions just to keep up team morale. “We lost six of our regular-season games to rain. So going into that regional, to say we were well rested would probably be an understatement. We had some kids with some nagging injuries that kind of got a chance to heal up a little bit. So we were pretty fresh and ready to go heading into regionals.”

With improved health and all that practice, the Cardinals claimed the regional crown and advanced all the way to the Class 4A state championship game, where they lost, 9-0, to Hays-Thomas More Prep-Marian.

“We knew we had the potential to get there, but we just hadn’t been very consistent all year,” Kimberlin said. “So it was a good surprise to be the winner at regional and be heading to state.”

Things were made a bit easier for Kimberlin with the amount of talent she had on the team.

Evan Folks, a freshman who earned All-Area second-team honors at catcher, led the team in several offensive categories – a .471 batting average, seven triples and two home runs, which led to an on-base percentage of .560.

“No disrespect to the young lady from McLouth (Kendall Patterson) that got the All-Area for catcher, but I have a catcher here who is a freshman, and she is a player,” said Kimberlin about Folks, who had an .829 slugging percentage. “She is just a kid that came through for us time and time again … she just does a great job for us – I’m glad that I have her around for three more years.”

However, Kimberlin will take a huge hit heading into next year with the loss of two starting pitchers – Brynn Hamilton, an All-Area honorable mention member, and Caitlyn Riser, who was better known for her play at second base, which earned her All-Area first-team honors.

“Defensively, we are losing quite a bit,” Kimberlin said. “I’ve been blessed with having Brynn and Caitlyn for four years, along with some other kids that have already graduated. So my pitching has been very good for the last four or five years so next year will be a bit of a challenge to work kids around and into that spot.”