The Walnut Grove Wildcats will head out on the road to take on the Denison Yellow Jackets at 6:45 p.m. on Friday. Walnut Grove's pitching crew has only allowed 3.1 runs per game this season, so Denison's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Walnut Grove is probably headed into the contest with a chip on their shoulder considering Melissa just ended the team's six-game winning streak on Wednesday. They took an 8-4 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Cardinals.
Meanwhile, Denison played in-conference for the first time on Tuesday and they got just the result they were looking for. They blew past Anna 14-3. Considering the Yellow Jackets have won seven matchups by more than seven runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.
Calli Svendsen spent all six innings played on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered three runs (all of which were unearned) on six hits. What's more, she gave up only zero earned runs, the fewest she's had since back in February.
At the plate, Denison got a massive performance out of Addison Ciaccio, who scored four runs and stole three bases while getting on base in four of her five plate appearances. Ciaccio has been hot for a while, having posted at least one stolen base the last nine times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Hailey Shrum, who got on base in four of her five plate appearances with one home run, three RBI, and one stolen base.
Denison always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .550. That was just more of the same: they've now posted an OBP of .550 or higher in three consecutive games.
Denison pushed their record up to 10-10 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 16.3 runs over those games. As for Walnut Grove, their loss was their first in the district, dropping their district record down to 6-1 and their overall record down to 15-6.
Everything went Walnut Grove's way against Denison in their previous meeting on March 4th, as Walnut Grove made off with a 15-0 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Walnut Grove since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
