You've got to start somewhere.

And after nine games in four days - the first seven in three days at the Kickoff Classic in Henderson, Nev. - the North Idaho College softball team has more than just begun the 2012 season. The Cardinals have already done something that some teams can only dream of - beat the defending NJCAA champion.

AFTER STARTING the season 0-6, the Cardinals earned their first win of the season, 2-1 over defending champion Yavapai College of Prescott, Ariz., on Sunday on Day 3 of the Kickoff Classic.

"That's where it all came together," NIC coach Don Don Williams said. "We played errorless defense and had some great pitching."

NIC opened the scoring on an RBI single by Nicole Atkinson in the first inning and added another run in the second on a single by KaSara Wise.

Emily Perlich allowed one run over five innings and sophomore Jenifer Rosie closed the game with two scoreless innings to get the save.

"One of our goals was to get the first batter out each inning," said Williams, whose NIC squad lost to then top-ranked Yavapai 7-6 on Friday. "That was a really nice game for us."

NIC also beat South Mountain 6-4 to open play last Saturday at 8 a.m. The Cardinals also took on Central Arizona (and lost 16-9) and played the late game against Phoenix College in a game that wasn't on the original schedule.

"When we got there, they had changed the schedule so we were playing the late game on Saturday," Williams said. "The tournament was running behind, so we'd just sit and wait and keep warming up."

Due to the tournament running behind, some teams with early Sunday games opted to forfeit those early games, while the Cardinals played on.

"I didn't know that was an option (to forfeit the early game Sunday)," Williams said. "With all the money we spent getting down there, we just played.

Looking back, maybe it wasn’t the best decision, but we tried to have each inning be a learning experience. Obviously, it would have been nice to get a few more wins. But we’re looking forward to getting back on some dry dirt in a few weeks.”

THE TEAM returns to action in St. George, Utah, site of this year’s NJCAA tournament, next week to face Salt Lake, Southern Nevada and Colorado Northwestern in Scenic West Athletic Conference games Feb. 8-13.

“We definitely can hit the ball,” Williams said. “But we need to find the consistency.”

NIC hit 11 home runs as a team over the weekend.

“We can produce some runs,” Williams said. “But the highlight of the trip was beating Yavapai. When you haven’t had an outdoor practice in three months and can play as well as we did defensively, it’s a good thing. All four of our pitchers had a good performance at some point in the tournament. Unfortunately, we’ve got to start the SWAC season with no more preseason games.”

The home opener is tentatively scheduled against Snow on Feb. 17, but they’ll have to hope some of the snow on the ground at Memorial Field melts before that can happen.

“We won’t really know until we get back (from Utah) on the 13th,” Williams said. “We’ll look at every field in Kootenai County we can that is designed for fastpitch. Memorial (Field) is really questionable because of how it drains and it still has snow on it.”

Those fans unable to make it out to the games this season can follow the Cardinals at www.iscorecast.com. The access code is 1A53291A0D.

“It’s a pretty cool thing to have,” Williams said. “We’ve got an assistant coach that downloaded an app for an iPad and it’s awesome. It really gives those out-of-town parents a chance to follow the games.”

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com.