Softball Game Preview: Butler Golden Tornado vs. Baldwin Highlanders

The Butler Golden Tornado will head out on the road to square off against the Baldwin Highlanders at 5:00 p.m. on Friday.

On Wednesday, Butler came up short against New Castle and fell 19-15. Even if the Golden Tornado couldn't come away with the win, the high-scoring effort was a great turnaround for their hitters, which had struggled int the games prior.

Kaylin Garbinski led a balanced group of hitters, scoring a run while going 2-for-4. The team also got some help courtesy of Annalyn Schnur, who scored two runs while going 2-for-2.

Even though they lost, Butler always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .543. The last time their OBP was this high was back in March of 2024.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Baldwin, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. They came out on top against Norwin by a score of 6-2 on Wednesday.

This is the second loss in a row for Butler and nudges their season record down to 0-2-1. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.5 runs over those games. As for Baldwin, their victory bumped their record up to 3-1.

Butler couldn't quite get it done against Baldwin in their previous meeting back in May of 2024 as they fell 8-3. Can Butler avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.