The Creek Wood Red Hawks will face off against the Heritage Mountaineers at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Creek Wood's pitching crew heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They were the clear victors by a 10-0 margin over Portland. The Red Hawks haven't had any issues with the Panthers recently, as the game was their fifth consecutive win against them.
Elizabeth Martin was a major factor while hitting and pitching. On the mound, she kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits over six innings pitched. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than one earned run in 11 consecutive appearances. She was also big at the plate, going 1-for-4 with one home run and two RBI.
In other batting news, Creek Wood let Jaycee Dillehay and Lilly Killebrew run wild. Dillehay went 2-for-4 with one home run, two runs, and one stolen base, while Killebrew went 2-for-4 with one home run, two runs, and two RBI. That home run marked the first that Dillehay has launched this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Aleigha McCord, who went 1-for-3 with one home run and three RBI.
Creek Wood lost a few balls and finished the game with four home runs. That's the most home runs they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Heritage had already won seven in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6 runs) and they went ahead and made it eight on Friday. They put the hurt on the Wildcats with a sharp 11-1 victory. Considering the Mountaineers have won 14 games by more than seven runs this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Elishia Byrd made a big impact no matter where she played. She looked comfortable on the mound, striking out eight batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. Byrd was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-4 with three runs and one stolen base.
In other batting news, Brooke Gennoe and Portlyn Bennett did most of the damage at the plate: Gennoe went a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI and one run, while Bennett went 2-for-3 with two RBI and one double. Those three hits gave Gennoe a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Autumn Brooke Perrin, who went 1-for-3 with two RBI and one run.
Heritage pushed their record up to 27-8 with the win, which was their eighth straight at home. The home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.5 runs over those games. As for Creek Wood, their win bumped their record up to 29-13.
Tuesday's contest will be a test for both teams' pitchers. Creek Wood hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .343. However, it's not like Heritage struggles in that department as they've averaged .327. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Creek Wood beat Heritage 9-4 in their previous meeting back in April of 2018. Will the Red Hawks repeat their success, or do the Mountaineers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
