Softball Recap: Central City Snags Fifth Victory in Last Six Games

It's playoff time, and Central City had no trouble coming through when it counted. They walked away with a 7-4 victory over NEN on Thursday. This was a revenge game for the Bison: when they faced off against NEN back in September, they had to take a 3-2 defeat.

Payton Burbach

Batters Struck Out

10/16/25 vs NEN	11
10/15/25 vs Kearney Catholic	7
10/10/25 vs Twin River	7
10/10/25 vs Twin River	6
10/07/25 vs St. Paul	6

Payton Burbach spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered three earned (and one unearned) runs on seven hits and racked up 11 Ks. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in five consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, Juno Ryan was incredible, going 2-for-4 with one home run, two runs, and two RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Emma Brandes, who went 2-for-3 with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI.

Central City was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .393. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as NEN only posted a batting average of .233.

Central City is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games. That's provided a nice bump to their 25-8 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.2 runs over those games. As for NEN, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 21-12.

Coming up, Central City will take on Yutan-Mead at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (the Bison 3.5, the Patriots 2.5) so any runs scored will be well earned. NEN does not have any more games scheduled as of now.