Softball Game Preview: Sacred Heart Crusaders vs. Perry Central Bulldogs

The Sacred Heart Crusaders are taking a road trip to square off against the Perry Central Bulldogs at 6:00 p.m. on Monday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Sacred Heart's pitching crew heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. Everything went their way against Richton as they made off with a 15-0 win. The victory was nothing new for the Crusaders as they're now sitting on three straight.

Jana Phillips

Stolen Base

04/04/25 @ Richton	1
04/03/25 vs East Marion	1
04/01/25 @ Salem	1
03/27/25 vs Salem	1
03/21/25 @ Forrest County Agricultural	1
+ 2 more games

Jana Phillips was a standout: she scored three runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3. She is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as she's now snagged at least one in each of the last seven games she's played. Julia Adams was another key player, going 3-for-4 with five RBI and one stolen base.

Sacred Heart always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .541. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Richton only posted an OBP of .278.

Meanwhile, Perry Central won against Lumberton on Thursday with 15 runs and they decided to stick to that run total again on Friday. The Bulldogs blew past Our Lady Academy 15-2. The win was familiar territory for the Bulldogs, who have now won four matchups in a row.

Perry Central got a massive performance out of Peyton Merrill, who scored three runs and stole three bases while getting on base in all four of her plate appearances. That's the most runs Merrill has posted since back in March. Another player making a difference was Rylen Hinton, who scored two runs while going 4-for-4.

Sacred Heart pushed their record up to 12-2 with the victory, which was their eighth straight on the road. Those road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 15.0 runs over those games. As for Perry Central, their record is now 10-8-1.

Perry Central's hitters will have their work cut out for them on Monday. Sacred Heart has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 6.7 strikeouts per game. It's a different story for Perry Central, though, as they've been averaging only 3.3 strikeouts. Will Sacred Heart keep running through batters, or will the Bulldogs buck the trend? Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other softball content.