Softball Preview: Lee's Summit West Titans vs. Raymore-Peculiar Panthers
Lee's Summit West has been away from home for two games now, but on Thursday they'll finally make their return. They will host the Raymore-Peculiar Panthers at 4:00 p.m.
Lee's Summit West is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Missouri's top teams: Blue Springs South, who was ranked tenth in their home state at the time (Lee's Summit West was ranked 24th). Lee's Summit West came up short against Blue Springs South on Wednesday, falling 7-1. Having soared to a lofty 15 runs in the game before, the Titans couldn't push the score so high this time.
Meanwhile, Raymore-Peculiar came tearing into Tuesday's match with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 3.5 runs) and they left with even more momentum. They never let the Broncos onto the board and left with an 11-0 victory. The Panthers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won nine matchups by eight runs or more this season.
Kelsie Donaldson made a big impact no matter where she played. She struck out eight batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and only one walk). She has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't tossed less than seven strikeouts in five consecutive appearances. She was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with two RBI.
In other batting news, Carmen Boxberger was incredible, scoring three runs and stealing a base while going 3-for-4. The dominant performance also gave her a new career-high in OBP. Taylor Roe was another key player, scoring a run while going 2-for-2.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Raymore-Peculiar always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .633. That's a new trend for them: their average OBP was 0% earlier this season, but in their last five contests they've averaged 44.2%.
The defeat snapped Lee's Summit West's winning streak at three games and leaves them with a 10-10 record. As for Raymore-Peculiar, their win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 18-4.
Lee's Summit West skirted past Raymore-Peculiar 5-3 in their previous meeting two weeks ago. Does Lee's Summit West have another victory up their sleeve, or will Raymore-Peculiar turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
