Softball Preview: Prairie Central Hawks vs. Olympia Spartans
Prairie Central is 2-8 against Olympia since April of 2017 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Prairie Central Hawks are on the road again to play the Olympia Spartans at 4:30 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Prairie Central will bounce into Thursday's game after beating Illinois Valley Central, who they hadn't topped in nine consecutive meetings. Everything went Prairie Central's way against Illinois Valley Central on Monday as Prairie Central made off with an 8-2 victory.
Dixie Hogan spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on seven hits and racked up eight Ks. She has been consistent recently: she hasn't pitched less than five innings in three consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Sam Slagel, who fired off two home runs and three runs while going 2-for-3. The team also got some help courtesy of Kyah Creek, who scored two runs while going 3-for-4.
Meanwhile, Olympia entered their tilt with Athens with 12 consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with 13. They never let the Warriors onto the board and left with a 10-0 win on Tuesday. Give Olympia's pitching crew some credit: that's the team's fourth straight shutout.
The victory got Prairie Central back to even at 12-12. As for Olympia, they pushed their record up to 21-1-1 with that win, which was their 12th straight at home dating back to last season.
Prairie Central suffered a grim 16-5 defeat to Olympia in their previous meeting back in May of 2023. Can Prairie Central avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
