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By Natalie Luu and Daisy Chung
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May. 22, 2009 |
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Walking off the field after the last inning of the game, the boys of
the varsity baseball team realized that their legacy had ended for the
season.
Senior pitcher Eitan Neumark said he knew it would be tough for the
team to succeed with only a trio of seniors: Harlan Hamakawa, Narin
Leininger and himself.
“We did our best to put ourselves in a good position to make it to the championship, but
unfortunately we couldn’t,” Neumark said. “It’s especially brutal for us three seniors,
seeing as it may have been the last baseball game of our lives.”
On May 7, the Cardinals fell to the Galileo Lions 2-1 and consequently lost their shot at the AAA title. Throughout the game, the players were overwhelmed with a playoff atmosphere. “We all wanted revenge, and we knew that we were a better team than the last time we played Galileo,” Neumark said.
However, Galileo had also improved since the last game and the Cardinals were no match for them. “Galileo scored two runs in the first inning and we never could muster up any sort of rally,” Neumark said. “It was pretty hard to lost and not be able to go back to AT&T for a shot at the championship.”
Junior outfielder Michael Inouye said he was devastated to lose the chance to play in the championship game. “We came into the game feeling confident, but our bats were not alive,” Inouye said. “It was more than sad when we had realized that our season was over.” However, Inouye said he found the loss as motivation to work twice as hard to get the title next year.
Reflecting on the positive of this season, the Cardinals defeated the Mission Bears 5-4 on May 6. However, the close score revealed the team’s weaknesses since the Cardinals had beaten them 14-4 during the regular season. “This game set up the
showdown against Galileo that all of us wanted after getting beaten by them twice during
the regular season,” Neumark said.
With eight experienced players for next year, the team has a lot of potential, including freshman Nick Tam. Pitching the best games of the season, Tam is guaranteed to bring success for next year, according to Inouye. “I know our team has potential to do great things, especially with Nick’s help,” Inouye said.
Most Valuable Player
The Lowell's Choice for MVP this year is senior Narin Leninger, who has proved to be a major part of the team’s defense and a great team leader. “He pumps everybody up at the games,” junior infielder Nick Allen said.
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