The Central Noble Cougars will square off against the Goshen RedHawks at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Central Noble has three straight victories, Goshen has seven straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
On Thursday, Central Noble made easy work of Lakeland and carried off a 9-1 win. The Cougars might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won nine matchups by seven runs or more this season.
Grace Swank made a splash while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, striking out 15 batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in three consecutive appearances. She was also big at the plate, going 1-for-3 with two RBI and one run.
Kendra Smith
| 05/08/25 vs Lakeland | 2 |
| 05/06/25 @ Garrett | 1 |
| 05/05/25 @ Fairfield | 1 |
| 04/28/25 vs West Noble | 1 |
| 04/26/25 vs Norwell | 1 |
In other batting news, Kendra Smith was incredible, going 3-for-4 with two runs, one triple, and one RBI. Those two runs gave her a new career-high. Kaitlyn Tilley was another key player, going 2-for-3 with one run, one double, and one RBI.
Central Noble hit smart and finished the game with only one strikeout. The team has now struck out at least four batters in 11 consecutive contests.
Goshen couldn't beat Warsaw on Friday even though they stacked six runs on them in the third inning. The RedHawks fell just short of the Tigers by a score of 9-8.
Central Noble's victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-4. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.3 runs on average over those games. As for Goshen, their loss dropped their record down to 3-11.
Central Noble took their victory against Goshen when the teams last played back in May of 2024 by a conclusive 10-0 score. Do the Cougars have another victory up their sleeve, or will the RedHawks turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
