Softball Game Preview: Gateway Panthers vs. Celebration Storm

Gateway is 2-8 against Celebration since March of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Panthers will venture away from home to take on the Storm at 6:30 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, these teams will really light up the scoreboard.

Gateway made up a huge gap compared to their last game against Freedom, but they still couldn't quite topple them. The Panthers put the hurt on the Patriots with a sharp 19-9 win on Friday. The result was nothing new for the Panthers, who have now won three games by ten runs or more so far this season.

Meanwhile, Celebration waltzed into their contest on Tuesday with two straight wins... but they left with three. They walked away with a 10-6 victory over the Bolts.

Valeria Castellano and Gigi Reyes did most of the damage at the plate: Castellano scored two runs and stole two bases while getting on base in all three of her plate appearances, while Reyes went 1-for-2 with one triple, one stolen base, and two RBI. Another player making a difference was Brenna Neil, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3.

Celebration's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 6-8. The road victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 20.0 runs over those games. As for Gateway, their win ended a ten-game drought on the road dating back to last season and puts them at 3-4.

Gateway suffered a grim 13-3 defeat to Celebration in their previous meeting back in February. Can the Panthers avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.