After winning the Division 1 State Softball Championship last year, the Sun Prairie Cardinals' title defense is in the hands of the next wave of players, led by returning conference player of the year Maddie Gardner.
The Big 8's Coach of the Year, Jamie Olson, says that the championship is a big motivator for the Cardinals this spring. After graduating a trio of first-team all-conference players (and six players total that earned all-conference honors), the title defense now rests with Gardner (a Wisconsin commit), who is a junior, and a senior group now elevated to larger roles, led by 2018 Big 8 honorable mention Sabrina Reuter.