Softball Preview: Berthoud Spartans vs. Northridge Grizzlies
Berthoud has been away from home for two games now, but on Thursday they'll finally make their return. They will host the Northridge Grizzlies at 4:00 p.m. Neither of those teams managed to put together many runs in their previous contests, so the offenses might be a little more motivated than usual.
Berthoud is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Colorado's top teams: Severance, who was ranked 24th in their home state at the time (Berthoud was ranked 14th). Berthoud's pitcher stepped up to hand Severance a 2-0 shutout on Tuesday. Give the Spartans' pitching crew some credit: that's the team's third straight shutout.
Not much got past Lily Dodd, who gave up just five hits and racked up six Ks to keep Severance off the board. Dodd has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up more than two walks in five consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Alana Lukensow was excellent, going 1-for-3 with a triple, a run, and an RBI.
Meanwhile, Northridge came up short against Roosevelt on Tuesday, falling 10-1. The Grizzlies haven't had much luck with the Roughriders recently, as the team's come up short the last eight times they've met.
Bo Tellez was cooking despite her team's loss, scoring a run and stealing two bases while going 1-for-3.
Even though they lost, Northridge didn't let batters stay on the plate for long and finished the game with five strikeouts. That's the most strikeouts they've posted since back in October of 2023.
Berthoud's win was their ninth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 13-1. As for Northridge, their loss dropped their record down to 7-4.
Thursday's match will be a test for both team's pitchers. Berthoud hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of 0. However, it's not like Northridge struggles in that department as they've averaged 0. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Berthoud came out on top in a nail-biter against Northridge when the teams last played back in October of 2023, sneaking past 4-3. Will Berthoud repeat their success, or does Northridge have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
