Softball Game Preview: West Delaware Hawks vs. Grinnell Tigers

The West Delaware Hawks will face off against the Grinnell Tigers at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

West Delaware barely beat Independence the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Hawks were the clear victors by a 13-2 margin over the Mustangs on Tuesday. The Hawks have beaten the Mustangs the last three times they've met, but they better watch out: this was the closest the Mustangs has come to flipping the script.

Meanwhile, Grinnell had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 5.5 runs) and they went ahead and made it three on Tuesday. Their pitchers stepped up to hand the Golden Hawks a 12-0 shutout.

Grinnell pushed their record up to 19-3 with the victory, which was their fifth straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 11.0 runs over those games. As for West Delaware, their victory bumped their record up to 15-8.

West Delaware was able to grind out a solid win over Grinnell in their previous meeting back in June of 2024, winning 10-6. Will the Hawks repeat their success, or do the Tigers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.