Softball Preview: Archbishop Hoban Knights vs. Manchester Panthers
The Archbishop Hoban Knights will head out on the road to face off against the Manchester Panthers at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. The last four games Archbishop Hoban has played have been within two runs, so don't be surprised if it's a close one.
On Wednesday, it was a hard-fought match, but Archbishop Hoban had to settle for a 4-3 defeat against Canton Central Catholic.
Archbishop Hoban saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Taylor Gerring, who scored two runs while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, Manchester entered their tilt with Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy with four consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with five. They were the clear victor by a 22-2 margin over the Royals on Wednesday. Manchester might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team's won eight matchups by nine runs or more this season.
Cassidy Perry made a big impact no matter where she played. She tossed five innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off four hits. Perry was also big at the plate, scoring two runs while going 2-for-4.
In other batting news, Manchester got a massive performance out of Courtney Perry, who went 3-for-5 with three runs, four RBI, and a triple. Another player making a difference was Lilly Konen, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 4-for-5.
Archbishop Hoban has not been sharp recently as the team has lost three of their last four games, which put a noticeable dent in their 8-8 record this season. As for Manchester, they pushed their record up to 13-4 with that win, which was their third straight on the road.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Thursday. Archbishop Hoban hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.7 home runs per game. However, it's not like Manchester struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.4. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Everything went Archbishop Hoban's way against Manchester in their previous meeting on Thursday as Archbishop Hoban made off with an 18-6 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Archbishop Hoban since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
