Softball Game Preview: West Park Panthers vs. Grant Pacers

After both having extra time off, the West Park Panthers and the Grant Pacers will shake off the rust and duke it out at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (West Park has three straight wins, Grant has nine straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

West Park's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed last Thursday. They blew past Cordova 20-0. With that victory, the Panthers brought their scoring average up to 7.2 runs per game.

Mady Schultze

Runs Batted In (Career)

04/10/25 vs Cordova	5
04/18/24 @ Placer	4
04/25/24 vs Oakmont	3
04/16/24 vs Ponderosa	3
04/11/24 @ Nevada Union	3

Mady Schultze and Kayla Bowles did most of the damage at the plate: Schultze went 2-for-3 with one home run, five RBI, and two runs, while Bowles went 1-for-3 with five RBI, three runs, and one triple. Those five RBI gave Schultze a new career-high. Isabella Huston was another key player, going 1-for-2 with two runs, two RBI, and one double.

West Park hit smart and finished the game with only one strikeout. They are a perfect 3-0 when they post two or more strikeouts.

Meanwhile, Thursday just wasn't the day for Grant's offense. They lost 22-0 to Kennedy last Thursday. While getting shut out isn't ideal, the Pacers haven't been shut out since back in February.

West Park pushed their record up to 7-5 with the win, which was their third straight at home. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games. As for Grant, their loss dropped their record down to 2-11.

West Park took their win against Grant in their previous meeting back in March by a conclusive 24-3 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Panthers since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.