Softball Preview: Prospect Panthers vs. Christopher Cougars
The Prospect Panthers will be playing in front of their home fans against the Christopher Cougars at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Thursday, Prospect was able to grind out a solid win over Oak Grove, taking the game 7-2. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Prospect.
Diana Noriaga spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered two runs (both of which were unearned) on three hits. Those seven innings set a new season-high mark for her.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Dani Rauscher, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 3-for-4. She has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last four times she's played. Another player making a difference was Isa Shields, who scored two runs and stole two bases while getting on base in two of her four plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Christopher had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 10.5 runs), and they went ahead and made it three on Thursday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past the Raiders 6-5.
Christopher also let their pitcher toss all seven innings and she was also dialed-in: Danielle Keller gave up three earned (and two unearned) runs on five hits.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Jaelynn Corona, who scored three runs and stole three bases while going 2-for-3. Chevelle Quistian was another key contributor, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-3.
Prospect's win ended a five-game drought on the road and puts them at 2-9-1. As for Christopher, their victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 7-9.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Tuesday as neither team is afraid to steal. Prospect has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Christopher struggles in that department as they've been averaging 2.8. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Prospect suffered a grim 9-2 defeat to Christopher when the teams last played back in March. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Keller, who didn't allow a single earned run over seven innings pitched. Now that Prospect 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
