Previously, on March 8, the Cardinals had lost to the Eagles by one run. “Their pitcher was good,” senior shortstop Rubye Chu said.

With the loss still fresh in their minds, the Cardinals prepared themselves better for the April 7 meet-up. “We practiced with the pitching machine at a speed similar to that of the Washington pitcher’s,” Chu said. “We already knew Washington’s strategy, and we have good, steady confident hitters from one through nine in our lineup. We were accustomed to seeing the fastball come to us at the plate.”

Walking into the game, Chu was already “quite confident” about victory, she said. The Eagles, on the other hand, “were nervous and making mistakes,” probably unprepared for the new confidence and ferocity emanating from the Cardinals.

This time around the Cardinals were ready and able to finish the game. “After the first inning, the girls never looked back,” coach Sascha Taylor-Ray said. “They started playing their game and continued to keep the lead. We knew we had to bring our A-game for all seven innings. We couldn’t sit back on our heels at all.” In the end, a flustered Washington team handed Lowell the game, 9-5. “We worked hard and deserved the win,” freshmen catcher Katie Tam said.

On March 19, the Cardinals struck a similar chord of fear into the Mustangs through the work of sophomore pitcher Alina Werth, who demoralized Lincoln early on by striking out the side in the top of the first. In the bottom half of the inning, Tam revved up the offense machine by knocking a single to center middle field and then stealing second base. Senior second baseman Anna Dea proceeded to hit a bomb deep to left field, driving in Tam and giving Lowell the early lead.

The Cardinals extended their lead in the fourth inning when Werth and Chu both scored through the Mustangs’ tough defense. Although the scrappy Mustangs tried to come back with constant bunts and grounders, not only did the Cardinals’ solid defense thoroughly crush their hopes, but the unstoppable Cardinal offense also kept rolling in the sixth inning, with freshman outfielder Chloe Roddy knocking in senior third baseman and pitcher Samia Zuber. The hitting bonanza didn’t stop there — senior outfielder Sylvia Tam and senior right fielder Rita Belilovskaya also came in to score with strong hits to the outfield.

In the seventh inning, the persistent Mustangs made one last attempt at victory, but fell short, managing to get in their only two runs of the day. The Cardinals won 6-2, almost defeating Lincoln in the same fashion as last year’s championship game.

Like déjà vu, the Cardinal wave rises once again for round two at 3:30 p.m. today against Lincoln at Parkside Park.