Cardinals Advance to Region 20 Final Four
Ellicott City, MD – 5/1, 5/2- The CCBC Cardinals advanced to the final four of the NJCAA Region 20 Softball Championship, with a first round series win over Howard Community College 10-7, 4-6, and 11-3(5 innings).
These two teams have played back and forth contests over the last two seasons, and this latest series would be no different. Game one would arguably be the best of the bunch with the Cardinals and Dragons matching run for run up to the final inning. CCBC would start the scoring with a Maggie Rowland 2RBI double, followed by an Ava Blum single which would score Rowland, making it 3-0 in the top of the first. Howard would match in the bottom half with a 2 out 3-run home run by Madison Hamolia. Jules LeProhon would manufacture the next Cardinal run with a double, an advancement to third via tag up, and then would score on a wild pitch making it 4-3. Howard would get another big two out swing, with a Sophia Steele 2RBI single to give them a 5-4 lead going into the third. The Cardinals would get two runners in scoring position but would only plate one via Ava Blum SAC Fly which would tie it at 5. Emily Fagan would then find her groove on the mound, pitching the next two innings scoreless picking up 4 Ks over the span. The scoring would pick back up in the top of the fifth with a Gianna Guglielminetti RBI 2B, giving the Cardinals a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the fifth. Back-to-back RBI singles by the Dragons would flip the lead back to them 7-6 but would be the last time they would cross the plate in game one. Trailing 7-6 in the top of the sixth, the Cardinals would choose a great time to hit their two home runs in the contest. Angela Delaney would hit a solo shot to tie the game 7-7 in the top of the sixth, and in the top the of seventh Jules LeProhon would have the biggest hit of the series, a three-run shot to give CCBC a 10-7 lead in what would be the final of 9 ties/lead changes. Emily Fagan would go the final two innings scoreless in the circle to get the complete game win and give the Cards a 1-0 series lead.
Game Two would be the closest of the series and would be Howards one win as they would pick it up 6-4. CCBC would open the scoring however via a bases loaded walk in the top of the second inning which would score Aliceanna Weibley. Jules LeProhon would start game two in the circle following her game one heroics, and would pitch well, going the first two innings scoreless and keeping the Cardinals within striking distance the entire game. The CCBC offense was unable to drive runners' home in game two as they would leave 9 stranded and remain scoreless from the third inning until the top of the seventh inning. Howard would do their damage in those same innings, stretching their lead to 6-1 going into the final frame. In the seventh is when the Cardinal bats would awaken, as they would gather 4 of their 10 hits in the inning and would get the tying run up to the plate, suddenly bringing the game to a pressure point. Howard would get out of the final inning jam and secure the victory 6-4, to force a game three the next night May 2nd.
The Saturday night winner take all game would see the same game one pitching matchup with Emily Fagan and Marissa Webb as both teams' best arms were needed to try and extend their seasons. The Cardinal offense would have their best outing in the season picking up 11 runs on 11 hits with their season on the line, in a five-inning mercy rule win. Emily Fagan would have no issue seeing the Dragons again this season, as she would record her third win over the Dragons allowing just three runs and picking up five strikeouts over 5 innings. For the third straight game CCBC would start the scoring, this time via an Aliceanna Weibley solo shot, for her first of three XBH. A two-run single for Howard would give them their only lead of the contest at 2-1. Weibley's second XBH would start the first of two big rallies by CCBC, a leadoff double in the fourth, followed by an Ava Blum double to score Weibley and tie the game at two. An error by Howard, followed by a HBP and two singles would make it a 4-run top of the fourth inning and give CCBC a 5-2 lead. The Dragons would get one in the bottom half of inning, to keep it close at 2. The top of the fifth inning would see the second rally for the Cardinals, and again Aliceanna Weibley would be the catalyst, hitting a homer to kick off the top of the fifth. The Cardinals would continue to get traffic on the basepaths, as the familiarity with the Dragons pitching began to go in their favor as they'd go score 6 more in the top of the fifth to put themselves in position for a mercy rule, where Emily Fagan would slam the door on the Dragons season, and advance the Cardinals to the final four of the NJCAA Region 20 Championship.
CCBC will travel to WVU Potomac as the four seed and will kick off the championship round Friday May 8th with a matchup against host WVU Potomac at 2PM.