Softball Preview: Northwest Vikings vs. Cozad Haymakers
Northwest has gone 8-1 against Cozad recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Northwest Vikings will be playing at home against the Cozad Haymakers. The timing is sure in Northwest's favor as the squad sits on 13 straight wins at home (dating back to last season) while Cozad has been banged up by five consecutive losses on the road.
Northwest is probably headed into the contest with a chip on their shoulder considering Aurora just ended the team's 20-game winning streak dating back to last season on Tuesday. They fell just short of the Huskies by a score of 4-3. The loss put an end to the Vikings' undefeated start to the season.
Northwest saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Reyse Zobel, who went 1-for-3 with two RBI.
Even though they lost, Northwest didn't let batters stay on the plate for long and finished the game with 11 strikeouts. That's the most strikeouts they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Cozad). Everything went their way against Lexington on Tuesday as Cozad made off with a 17-6 win. The high-scoring effort was just what the Haymakers needed considering they were shutout in their previous game.
Cozad got a massive performance out of Clatyn Fleharty, who fired off three home runs and eight RBI while going 3-for-3. The dominant performance gave Fleharty a new career-high in hits. The team also got some help courtesy of Aubrey Hammerlun, who scored four runs and stole two bases while getting on base in all four of her plate appearances.
Northwest's loss ended a 12-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 15-1. As for Cozad, their victory bumped their record up to 6-11.
Cozad's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Northwest has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 11.2 hits per game. It's a different story for Cozad, though, as they've been averaging 9.3. Given Northwest's sizable advantage in that area, Cozad will need to find a way to close that gap.
Northwest took their win against Cozad in their previous matchup back in September of 2023 by a conclusive 10-0. Does Northwest have another victory up their sleeve, or will Cozad turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
