Softball Preview: Blue River vs. Lakeview Vikings
Blue River will square off against the Lakeview Vikings on Thursday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
If Blue River beats Lakeview with seven runs on Thursday, it's going to be the team's new lucky number: they've won their past two matches with that exact score. Blue River came out on top against Pierce by a score of 7-2 on Saturday. The win made it back-to-back victories for Blue River.
Meanwhile, it may have taken nine innings to finish the job, but Lakeview ultimately got the result they hoped for on Tuesday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Central City , sneaking past 5-4. Five seems to be a good number for the Vikings as the squad scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Cali Bentz made a big impact while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, striking out 13 batters over nine innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off seven hits. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive pitching appearances. She was also big at the plate, scoring a run while getting on base in four of her five plate appearances. She also put up a double, which washer first of the season.
Bentz wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Alyssa Taylor, who scored two runs while going 2-for-4.
Lakeview didn't let batters stay on the plate for long and finished the game with 13 strikeouts. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved they're strikeout total in three consecutive matchups.
The victory got Blue River back to even at 5-5. As for Lakeview, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a massive bump to their 4-3 record this season.
Blue River skirted past Lakeview 2-1 when the teams last played back in October of 2023. Will Blue River repeat their success, or does Lakeview have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
