Softball Preview: Eastern Montgomery Mustangs vs. Radford Bobcats
Eastern Montgomery is 1-9 against Radford since May of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Monday. The Eastern Montgomery Mustangs will head out on the road to face off against the Radford Bobcats at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Montgomery is coming into the contest hot, having won their last nine games.
In what's become a running theme this season, Eastern Montgomery gave their fans yet another huge victory on Friday. They were the clear victor by a 16-3 margin over Bland County.
Eastern Montgomery got a great performance from Mary Miller as she struck out six batters over five innings while giving up three earned runs off six hits (and not a single walk). Miller has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't pitched less than five innings in eight consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Alexis Artrip was incredible, going 2-for-3 with six RBI, a triple, and a double. Another player making a difference was Macie Akers, who scored four runs and stole a base while getting on base in three of her four plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Radford started off well but failed to capitalize on an early lead against Glenvar. They lost 14-5 to the Highlanders on Friday.
Addie Saunders was cooking despite her team's loss, going 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI.
Eastern Montgomery has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won ten of their last 11 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 12-3 record this season. As for Radford, they have been struggling recently as they've lost five of their last six matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-12 record this season.
Radford's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Eastern Montgomery has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 9.9 hits per game. It's a different story for Radford, though, as they've been averaging 10.6. Given Eastern Montgomery's sizable advantage in that area, Radford will need to find a way to close that gap.
Eastern Montgomery came up short against Radford when the teams last played back in March, falling 11-6. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Radford's Kathryn Price, who went 2-for-3 with a home run, four RBI, and two runs. Now that Eastern Montgomery knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
