East Mecklenburg hasn't had much luck against Providence recently, but that could start to change on Tuesday. East Mecklenburg will look to defend their home field against Providence at 5:30 p.m. East Mecklenburg is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 10.5 runs per game this season.
Friday just wasn't the day for East Mecklenburg's offense. They came up short against Charlotte Catholic on Friday, falling 10-0. Having soared to a lofty 23 runs in the game before, the Eagles' shutout was a dramatic turnaround.
East Mecklenburg saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Geneva Garvais, who went 1-for-2 with one double.
Meanwhile, Providence waltzed into their game on Thursday with eight straight wins... but they left with nine. Everything went their way against the Wonders as they made off with a 12-4 win. Considering the Panthers have won ten matches by more than seven runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
Sophie Strugar made a splash while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run over 4.1 innings pitched. The dominant performance also gave her a new career-low in earned runs (zero). She was also big at the plate, scoring a run while going 2-for-5.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Ella Lamprey, who scored three runs and stole a base while going 3-for-4. Those three runs gave her a new career-high. Emelia Zeng was another key player, going 1-for-3 with two runs and one triple.
Providence hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now struck out at most five strikeouts in ten consecutive contests.
Providence's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 11-1. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.7 runs on average over those games. As for East Mecklenburg, they now have a losing record of 5-6.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Tuesday. East Mecklenburg hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.8 home runs per game. However, it's not like Providence struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 1.4 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
East Mecklenburg might still be hurting after the 10-2 loss they got from Providence in their previous meeting back in April of 2024. Will East Mecklenburg have more luck at home instead of on the road? Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more softball content.
