Cardinals vs Dragons Postseason Preview

For the second straight season, CCBC and Howard find themselves matched up in the postseason this time as the 4 and 5 seed where Howard will have home field advantage. Last season saw the Cardinals win their posteason battle with the Dragons in a series that went all three games 8-4, 2-6, and 8-0. The Cardinals would eventually parlay that momentum into a Region 20 championship appearance. The Cardinals have many returning pieces from last seasons team that are motivated to return back to that position, including Sophomore leaders Alana Watts, who is the region leader in batting average, and Emily Fagan who is 2nd in the Region in wins. They're accompanied by a deep lineup behind them including freshmen Maggie Rowland, Angela Delaney, Aliceanna Weibley, and Gianna Guglielminetti who have provided the Cardinals with big swings at the top of the lineup, as well as steady defense at important positions. 

CCBC and Howard are very familiar with one another as the last two seasons they have met up to play in the most high leverage of games. Their regular season matchup this season on April 22 determined the stakes for this first round matchup and who would be the home team. Howard would sweep the series by scores of 5-3, and 18-14 (8 innings) where both games were played with high intensity. Both teams would have their moments in the doubleheader, as they would trade leads back and forth through both contests. Game 1 saw the Dragons pull out a 5-3 victory on the back of Marissa Webb who leads the region in homeruns and would record a win in the circle over the Cardinals. Game 2 saw the Cardinals and Dragons combine for 32 runs on 36 hits in an explosive extra innings contest that Howard would eventually pull out. CCBC would rally back from a 7-2 deficit, making the game 11-7. Howard would respond with their own rally tying the game at 11 in the 7th inning, then scoring 7 runs in the top the 8th to pull away. These two teams have seen each other's best, and with their recent history seem will provide another fun series in the first round of the Region 20 tournament. 

CCBC will close their regular season April 28th at home, before traveling to Kiwanis Wallas Park to take on the Howard Dragons in the postseason, May 1st with game 1 at 11 am with game 2 scheduled at 1PM. IF needed game 3 would be May 2 at 7:30 PM.