Softball Preview: Tiverton Tigers vs. Cranston East Thunderbolts
The Tiverton Tigers will head out on the road to face off against the Cranston East Thunderbolts at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (Tiverton: 3.3, Cranston East: 1) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Tiverton is hoping to deliver their fans another blowout on Friday, just like they did against Central (and have done all season long). Everything went Tiverton's way against Central on Wednesday as Tiverton made off with an 11-1 victory. The win was familiar territory for Tiverton who now have four in a row.
Abby DeMello spent all six innings played on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned run on three hits. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't pitched less than five innings in five consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Tiverton got a big performance out of Brooke Sowa, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 1-for-2. The team also got some help courtesy of Lyla Staskiewicz, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, Cranston East faced Shea in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Wednesday. Cranston East walked away with a 3-0 victory over Shea. Despite the win, that was the fewest runs Cranston East has scored all season.
Cranston East's victory was truly a team effort as six different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Kiara McGarty, who scored a run while going 2-for-3.
Tiverton's win bumped their record up to 6-3. As for Cranston East, their victory was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 6-0.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Tiverton has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Cranston East struggles in that department as they've been averaging 11.8. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Tiverton couldn't quite finish off Cranston East in their previous meeting on April 1st and fell 4-2. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Cranston East's Isabella Sousa, who struck out 13 batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off four hits. Now that Tiverton knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
