Softball Game Preview: Head-Royce Jayhawks vs. St. Joseph Notre Dame Pilots

The Head-Royce Jayhawks will challenge the St. Joseph Notre Dame Pilots at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

On Thursday, Head-Royce earned a 7-4 win over Redwood Christian. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Jayhawks.

Meanwhile, St. Joseph Notre Dame had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 15.3 runs) and they went ahead and made it five on Wednesday. Their pitcher stepped up to hand the Farmers a 20-0 shutout. The result was nothing new for the Pilots, who have now won 12 matches by ten runs or more so far this season.

Cassandra Sanchez made a splash while hitting and pitching. She didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out 14 over five innings pitched. She has been consistent for a while: she hasn't tossed less than eight strikeouts in 11 consecutive appearances. She was also stellar in the batter's box, going 2-for-4 with three runs, three RBI, and one stolen base.

In other batting news, St. Joseph Notre Dame got a massive performance out of Reagan Bowman, who got on base in four of her five plate appearances with four runs, two stolen bases, and one RBI. That's the most stolen bases Bowman has posted since back in March. Zora Oliverius was another key player, going 2-for-4 with three RBI, two runs, and one stolen base.

St. Joseph Notre Dame always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .523. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Hayward only posted an OBP of .062.

St. Joseph Notre Dame's victory was their seventh straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 15-5. The road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games. As for Head-Royce, their victory bumped their record up to 4-7.

Head-Royce couldn't quite get it done against St. Joseph Notre Dame in their previous matchup last Tuesday as they fell 6-1. Will the Jayhawks have more luck at home instead of on the road? Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other softball content.