Softball Preview: Holy Cross Crusaders vs. Old Forge Blue Devils
The Holy Cross Crusaders will head out on the road to challenge the Old Forge Blue Devils at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Holy Cross is hoping to deliver their fans another blowout on Monday, just like they did against Scranton (and have done all season long). Holy Cross put the hurt on Scranton with a sharp 12-2 win on Thursday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Holy Cross.
Holy Cross got a massive performance out of Ava Schmidt, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 1-for-2. Another player making a difference was Peyton Graboske, who scored a run while going 2-for-2.
Meanwhile, Old Forge owes their pitching crew a big pat on the back after their performance on Friday. They walked away with a 5-0 victory over Western Wayne.
Karen Sickle tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and only one hit while striking out eight over five innings pitched.
On the hitting side, Meghan Marianelli was incredible, going 2-for-2 with a home run, two runs, and a double. The team also got some help courtesy of Talia Piragas, who scored a run while going 2-for-3.
Holy Cross is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season. As for Old Forge, their win bumped their record up to 10-3.
Both the two teams just can't seem to miss. Holy Cross has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 9.6 hits per game. However, it's not like Old Forge struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 4.9. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Holy Cross came up short against Old Forge when the teams last played on April 8th, falling 6-3. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Sickle, who struck out nine batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off seven hits. Now that Holy Cross knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
