Softball Game Preview: Capital Bruins vs. Helena Bengals

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Previous Games

04/15/25 - Home	2-12 L
05/11/24 - Away	4-0 W
04/25/24 - Home	2-0 W
05/13/23 - Home	12-0 W
04/22/23 - Away	1-8 L
+ 5 more games

Capital has gone 8-2 against Helena recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Saturday. The Bruins will venture away from home to take on the Bengals at 1:00 p.m. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Capital has struggled recently with three losses in a row, while Helena will arrive with 11 straight wins.

Capital's last matchup with Butte could've gone either way, but unfortunately the same can't be said for the pair's game on Thursday. The Bruins lost 10-1 to the Bulldogs.

Meanwhile, Helena faced Big Sky in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Thursday. The Bengals narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past the Eagles 4-3. Four seems to be a good number for the Bengals as the squad scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.

Faith Howard spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered just two earned (and one unearned) runs on six hits and racked up 11 Ks. She has been consistent for a while: she hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in 16 consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, Helena saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Leea Turner, who went 1-for-3 with two RBI and one run. That's the most RBI Turner has posted since back in March. Another was Heidi Ricketts, who went 1-for-2 with one double and one RBI.

Helena pushed their record up to 16-2 with the victory, which was their eighth straight on the road. Those road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.1 runs on average over those games. As for Capital, their defeat dropped their record down to 7-12.

Capital suffered a grim 12-2 defeat to Helena in their previous meeting back in April. Can the Bruins avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.