Softball Game Preview: Crystal River Pirates vs. Eustis Panthers

The Crystal River Pirates will take on the Eustis Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with Crystal River sitting on four straight wins and Eustis on ten.

Crystal River is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. Their pitcher stepped up to hand The Villages Charter a 1-0 shutout. Give the Pirates' pitching crew some credit: that's the team's fourth straight shutout.

Violet Flynn

Batters Struck Out

05/13/25 vs The Villages Charter	16
05/07/25 vs Palatka	14
05/01/25 vs Hernando	13
04/30/25 vs Dunnellon	8
04/22/25 @ Trenton	12
+ 21 more games

The Villages Charter's batters probably weren't too happy with Violet Flynn, who pitched a no hitter and racked up 16 Ks (she gave up zero walks). Flynn has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in 26 consecutive appearances.

Meanwhile, Eustis made easy work of South Sumter on Tuesday and carried off an 8-1 victory. Considering the Panthers have won 12 contests by more than six runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.

Carson Roden spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned run on five hits and racked up seven Ks.

On the hitting side, Eustis got a massive performance out of Kendall Kemp, who got on base in all four of her plate appearances with three RBI and one double. That's the most RBI Kemp has posted since back in February. Another player making a difference was Emmy Luke, who went 2-for-3 with two runs, one double, and one RBI.

Crystal River pushed their record up to 24-5 with the win, which was their 11th straight at home. Those home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 6.5 runs over those games. As for Eustis, their win bumped their record up to 21-4.