Softball Game Preview: St. Laurence Vikings vs. Shepard Astros

St. Laurence has won four straight games at home, while Shepard has won four straight on the road, but those streaks won't matter much on Friday. The Vikings will welcome the Astros at 4:30 p.m. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (St. Laurence 2.3, Shepard 2.2) so any runs scored will be well earned.

St. Laurence took a nine-run defeat the last time they faced off against Lyons, but this time they managed to keep it close and that made all the difference. The Vikings won by a run and slipped past the Lions 2-1.

Meanwhile, while Shepard put up plenty of runs on Wednesday, the same can't be said for Stagg. The Astros blew past the Chargers 12-0. The Astros might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 16 matchups by six runs or more this season.

Shepard has been performing well recently as they've won 17 of their last 20 contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 26-6 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.9 runs on average over those games. As for St. Laurence, their win bumped their record up to 20-5.

St. Laurence beat Shepard 4-0 when the teams last played back in April of 2023. Will the Vikings repeat their success, or do the Astros have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.