The Living Water Homeschool Marlins will venture away from home to take on the Bloomfield Cardinals at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Living Water Homeschool is coming into the match hot, having won their last ten games.
Living Water Homeschool's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Monday. They didn't even let Lawrence Central on the board, marking the Marlins' second-straight 9-0 shutout. The Marlins might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 12 games by eight runs or more this season.
Nora Levy made a big impact while hitting and pitching. She didn't allow a single earned run while striking out six over five innings pitched. She has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up a single earned run in three consecutive appearances. She was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-5 with two runs and one stolen base.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Macy Bush, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with two runs, two RBI, and one double. Another player making a difference was Hannah Jones, who went 3-for-4 with two runs, one double, and one RBI.
Living Water Homeschool was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .375. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .318 or higher in four consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Bloomfield, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Monday. Everything went their way against White River Valley on Wednesday as they made off with an 8-2 win. The Cardinals haven't had any issues with the Wolverines recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive victory against them.
Like Living Water Homeschool, Bloomfield also got a great game from a two-way player: Lila Koontz. On the mound, she struck out 11 batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned runs off two hits. Those 11 strikeouts gave Koontz a new career-high. She was also big at the plate, going 1-for-3 with two stolen bases, one run, and one RBI.
In other batting news, Lailey Smith was incredible, going 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, three runs, and two doubles. Those three runs gave her a new career-high. Addison Lafree was another key player, going 1-for-4 with one home run.
Living Water Homeschool pushed their record up to 18-5 with the win, which was their fourth straight on the road. The road victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 14.0 runs over those games. As for Bloomfield, their record is now 13-9.
