LONDON — Carly Mink’s South Laurel Lady Cardinals had high expectations entering the 2026 campaign, and they’ve met them head on, tying the program record of 36 wins while capturing the 50th District and 13th Region championships.
South Laurel is four wins away from winning its first fastpitch state championship, and enters the Sweet 16 as the state’s No. 5 ranked team.
“The road to the region Championship and to get back to the state tournament has been nothing but enjoyable with this team,” Mink said. “Obviously, we have had our challenges as each group does, but when faced with adversity our team just grew stronger together. We have such a great group that made each one of us look forward to being at the field each day.
“We never focus on a rating or a statistic, we just focus on our team and how we can be better than the previous day,” she added. “So many challenges and obstacles go into being successful as a team. Our sights have to be focused on what we can control, how we prepare, our approach to the game, intensity in which we play with, and being good teammates. You have to have the expectation that you’re going to get your opponents’ best effort each night and you have to be able to match that.”
A lot of the Lady Cardinals’ success can be attributed to their resiliency.
“We have a bunch of resilient kids and that’s a direct reflection of their character,” Mink said. “We set our sights and focus on the next pitch, next play, next at bat, and not dwelling on the negative things this game naturally gives you. That focus as a team has allowed us to be extremely successful in tough moments.”
Mink said playing another strong slate of games benefited her team as well.
“We always strive to play a tough schedule,” she said. “I believe the better competition that you play, the better you get as a team. Playing a tough schedule allowed us to see areas that we needed to improve in and allowed us to understand that we were capable of playing with some of the top teams in the state.
“We always have the goals of winning our district and region,” Mink added. “We understand that we had a very talented team when we started workouts in the off season, but talent alone doesn’t win games. We knew as a staff when we saw how hard the team was working, and how they were playing for each other that this could be a special year. A real defining moment was the many obstacles and circumstances on our spring break trip, and I felt like through those experiences we grew extremely close as a group and that paved the way to our success as a team.”
