Softball Game Preview: Coventry Oakers vs. East Providence Townies

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Previous Games

04/26/24 - Home	15-8 W
04/28/23 - Away	5-0 W
05/28/22 - Home	2-0 W
05/24/21 - Away	2-5 L
05/30/19 - Neutral	5-3 W
+ 5 more games

Coventry and East Providence are an even 5-5 against one another since April of 2016, but likely not for long. The Oakers will host the Townies at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Neither Coventry nor East Providence posted many runs in their last games, so it might be the pitching crews that decide this one.

Coventry is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Rhode Island's top teams: Pilgrim, who was ranked second at the time (Coventry was ranked fourth). The Oakers lost 10-0 to the Patriots on Thursday. The pitching woes were uncharacteristic for the Oakers, who until this game were averaging 3.36 runs allowed.

Coventry saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Emily Spadoni, who went 1-for-3 with one double.

Meanwhile, East Providence didn't have quite enough to beat East Greenwich on Thursday and fell 4-2.

Ella Grimley spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered just two earned (and two unearned) runs on six hits and racked up 11 Ks.

East Providence's loss dropped their record down to 7-6. As for Coventry, their defeat ended a four-game streak of away wins and brought them to 8-3.

Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Saturday. Coventry hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.7 home runs per game. However, it's not like East Providence struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.5 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.

Coventry took their win against East Providence in their previous matchup back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 15-8 score. Will the Oakers repeat their success, or do the Townies have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.