After battling the elements of lightning and heavy rain, the Bridge City Cardinals prevailed over the Splendora Wildcats 8-2 in Game One of their best-of-three 4A Region III bidistrict playoff series Thursday night at Humble High School.

Payton Havard worked all seven innings on the hill for the Cardinals (19-9-2) as he scattered five hits while fanning five Wildcats (11-9-1).

Havard also sparked an 11-hit Cardinal attack with two hits and also drove in a run.

Cace Skinner and Trevor Kimbell also had RBIs for the Cardinals.

Game Two is slated for today at 5 p.m. at Chuck Young Field with Game Three to follow if necessary.