Softball Game Preview: Thousand Oaks Lancers vs. Newbury Park Panthers

The Thousand Oaks Lancers will square off against the Newbury Park Panthers at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday. Thousand Oaks' pitching crew has only allowed 3.1 runs per game this season, so Newbury Park's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

Thousand Oaks proved they can win big last Tuesday (they won by 12) and on Thursday they proved they can win the close ones too. They narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past Oaks Christian 4-3. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Lancers have posted since March 6th.

The team relied heavily on Faith Goldfield, who went 1-for-2 with one home run. Charlene Bonilla was another key player, going 1-for-4 with two RBI and one double.

Meanwhile, Newbury Park made easy work of Nordhoff on Tuesday and carried off an 11-1 win. The Panthers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won nine contests by six runs or more this season.

Veronica Wasserman looked comfortable as she struck out nine batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits (and not a single walk). That's the most strikeouts she has posted since back in February of 2024.

At the plate, Newbury Park got a massive performance out of Lily Johnson, who scored three runs and stole three bases while getting on base in all four of her plate appearances. That's the most stolen bases Johnson has posted since back in February. Another player making a difference was Hanna Porter, who went 2-for-3 with one home run, three RBI, and two runs.

Newbury Park was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .409. They are a perfect 8-0 when they post a batting average of .375 or better.

Thousand Oaks' victory bumped their record up to 13-5-1. As for Newbury Park, their win bumped their record up to 12-9.

Everything went Thousand Oaks' way against Newbury Park in their previous matchup back in March, as Thousand Oaks made off with a 9-3 victory. Do the Lancers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Panthers turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.