Softball Game Preview: Westmoreland Eagles vs. Essex Trojans

The Westmoreland Eagles will take on the Essex Trojans at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Westmoreland is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.3 runs per game this season.

Rappahannock hit Westmoreland with a four-run fifth inning on Thursday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Eagles fell 10-5 to the Raiders. The Eagles haven't had much luck with the Raiders recently, as the team has come up short the last four times they've met.

Westmoreland saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Emma Burgess, who went 3-for-4 with one home run, three RBI, and one double. That home run was Burgess' first of the season. Olivia Gallagher was another, going 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI.

Meanwhile, Essex came tearing into Wednesday's match with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 4.3 runs), and they left with even more momentum. They beat the Red Devils by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 13-12.

Essex's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 8-9-1. The road victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 17.0 runs over those games. As for Westmoreland, their defeat dropped their record down to 8-8.

Westmoreland took their win against Essex in their previous matchup back in May of 2024 by a conclusive 15-1 score. Will the Eagles repeat their success, or do the Trojans have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.