Softball Game Preview: Forest Grove Vikings vs. Sherwood Bowmen

Forest Grove is 1-7 against Sherwood since April of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Vikings will be playing at home against the Bowmen at 5:00 p.m. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a five-game winning streak alive.

Forest Grove is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Oregon's top teams: Glencoe, who was ranked 18th at the time (Forest Grove was ranked 19th). The Vikings narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past the Crimson Tide 2-1. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last four times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.

For whatever reason, it's the away team that's had the advantage when Sherwood and Newberg meet (three straight games heading into this one) and that held true again on Wednesday. The Bowmen were the clear victors by a 17-1 margin over the Tigers. The Bowmen might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 11 matchups by seven runs or more this season.

Destiny Cornwell looked comfortable as she didn't allow a single earned run over four innings pitched.

At the plate, Jordyn Henderson was incredible, going 2-for-4 with one home run, three runs, and one stolen base. The team also got some help courtesy of Maisy Schindler, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with one home run and three RBI.

Sherwood always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .516. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Newberg only posted an OBP of .176.

Sherwood's win was their ninth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 17-2. The road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.6 runs on average over those games. As for Forest Grove, their win bumped their record up to 14-5.

Forest Grove skirted past Sherwood 2-1 in their previous meeting two weeks ago. Do the Vikings have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Bowmen turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.