Softball Game Preview: New Castle Hurricanes vs. Blackhawk Cougars

The New Castle Hurricanes will challenge the Blackhawk Cougars at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, these teams will really light up the scoreboard.

For some reason, the away team has come away with the win the last five times New Castle and Shenango have met, but the home crowd finally got their W on Friday. The Hurricanes walked away with a 10-7 victory over the Wildcats.

Meanwhile, Blackhawk never let their opponents score last Friday. They put the hurt on Ambridge with a sharp 15-0 win. With that victory, the Cougars brought their scoring average up to 7.2 runs per game.

Brynn Hysong was a standout: she went a perfect 3-for-3 with two runs, one stolen base, and two RBI. Those RBI were her first of the season. The team also got some help courtesy of Morgan Alexander, who went 2-for-3 with three runs, one stolen base, and one RBI.

Blackhawk always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .577. The last time their OBP was this high was back in May of 2025.

The win got Blackhawk back to even at 2-2. As for New Castle, their victory bumped their record up to 11-7.

Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Monday. New Castle hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 1.2 home runs per game. However, it's not like Blackhawk struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.5 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.

New Castle came out on top in a nail-biter against Blackhawk in their previous meeting back in April of 2023, sneaking past 3-2. Do the Hurricanes have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Cougars turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.