The Chincoteague Ponies will head out to take on the Northampton Yellowjackets at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Chincoteague will be strutting in after a victory while Northampton will be coming in after a defeat.
Chincoteague will roll into the contest after a wild two-game stretch: they didn't score any runs on Friday, then bounced right back against Wicomico on Monday. The Ponies put the hurt on the Indians with a sharp 11-1 win. Considering the Ponies have won seven games by more than nine runs this season, Monday's blowout was nothing new.
The team relied heavily on Meredith Wright, who went 2-for-4 with two triples, two runs, and two RBI. Ginny Sawyer was another key player, going 2-for-3 with two runs, two doubles, and one RBI.
Chincoteague always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .536. They are a perfect 6-0 when they post an OBP of .513 or better.
Meanwhile, Northampton was not able to break out of their rough patch on Thursday as the team picked up their third straight loss. They came up short against Arcadia, falling 16-0. Having soared to a lofty 11 runs in the game before, the Yellowjackets' shutout was a dramatic turnaround.
Northampton saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Ryleigh Caison, who went 1-for-3 with one double.
Chincoteague now has a winning record of 8-7. As for Northampton, their defeat dropped their record down to 3-9.
Northampton's hitters will have their work cut out for them on Tuesday. Chincoteague has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.1 strikeouts per game. It's a different story for Northampton, though, as they've been averaging only 3.4 strikeouts. Will Chincoteague keep running through batters, or will the Yellowjackets buck the trend?
Everything went Chincoteague's way against Northampton in their previous meeting back in May of 2023, as Chincoteague made off with a 17-4 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Ponies since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
