The Pine River Area Bucks will venture away from home to take on the McBain Ramblers at 4:15 p.m. on Monday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Pine River Area has 11 straight victories, McBain has three straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Pine River Area's pitching crew heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. Everything went their way against Manton as they made off with an 18-0 win. Considering the Bucks have won 14 matches by more than six runs this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Kylee Mumby made a splash no matter where she played. She tossed one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. She has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up more than one earned run in three consecutive appearances. She was also stellar in the batter's box, getting on base in all four of her plate appearances with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI.
Brook Dempkey
| 05/16/25 vs Manton | 2 |
| 04/22/25 vs Beal City | 1 |
| 04/16/25 @ Mason County Eastern | 2 |
In other pitching news, Brook Dempkey looked comfortable as she pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. What's more, she posted two strikeouts, the most she's had since back in April.
Back at the plate, the team relied heavily on Lilly Felsk, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs and two RBI. Mary Nichols was another key player, going 1-for-2 with three runs and one RBI.
Evart hit McBain with a eight-run fourth inning on Friday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Ramblers lost 14-1 to the Wildcats.
McBain saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Olivia Peterson, who went 1-for-2 with one run and one double.
Pine River Area pushed their record up to 20-2 with the victory, which was their ninth straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.1 runs on average over those games. As for McBain, their loss dropped their record down to 4-9.
McBain's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Pine River Area has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 9.4 hits per game. It's a different story for McBain, though, as they've been averaging 8.7 hits. Given Pine River Area's sizable advantage in that area, the Ramblers will need to find a way to close that gap.
Pine River Area took their victory against McBain in their previous matchup back in May of 2024 by a conclusive 16-0 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Bucks since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
