Softball Game Preview: South Johnston Trojans vs. Richlands Wildcats

The South Johnston Trojans will take on the Richlands Wildcats on Tuesday. South Johnston will be looking to extend their current 21-game winning streak.

South Johnston is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. Their pitchers stepped up to hand West Carteret a 1-0 shutout. The one-run effort marked the Trojans' lowest-scoring contest of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.

Meanwhile, after only two runs in their last matchup, Richlands made sure to put some runs up on the board against Cedar Ridge on Thursday. The Wildcats blew past the Fighting Red Wolves 10-0. The high-scoring performance was a welcome turnaround for the Wildcats' hitters, who had struggled in the games prior.

Makenzie Goin was a major factor while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits while striking out 14 over six innings pitched. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in 14 consecutive appearances. She was also solid in the batter's box, going 3-for-4 with one double and one RBI.

In other batting news, Richlands let LeNayah Jackson and Jordan Meece run wild. Jackson went 2-for-3 with three RBI, one run, and one double, while Meece went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI. That's the most RBI Jackson has posted since back in March. Cameron Cubas was another key player, going 1-for-3 with two runs and one double.

Richlands was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .419. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Cedar Ridge only posted a batting average of .095.

Richlands is on a roll lately: they've won 14 of their last 15 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 20-5 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.5 runs on average over those games. As for South Johnston, their win was their 13th straight at home, which pushed their record up to 21-1.