Softball Preview: St. Albans Red Dragons vs. Lincoln County Panthers
The St. Albans Red Dragons will head out on the road to square off against the Lincoln County Panthers at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams have allowed few runs on average, (St. Albans: 2.9, Lincoln County: 2.6) so any runs scored will be well earned.
St. Albans is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of West Virginia's top teams: Cabell Midland, who was ranked first in their home state at the time (St. Albans was ranked 12th). St. Albans wound up on the wrong side of a tough 12-4 walloping at the hands of Cabell Midland on Thursday. St. Albans has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Sydney Young was cooking despite her team's loss, going 2-for-3 with two runs and a triple.
Meanwhile, Lincoln County earned a 9-4 victory over Boyd County on Thursday. The win made it back-to-back victories for Lincoln County.
Ryleigh Shull spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered four runs (all of which were unearned) on nine hits and racked up seven Ks.
At the plate, Josie Bird and Rebecca Pennington did most of the damage at the plate: Bird went 4-for-4 with a double and an RBI, while Pennington scored two runs while going 1-for-4. Another player making a difference was Allison Ramey, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3.
St. Albans' defeat dropped their record down to 15-5. As for Lincoln County, their win was their 11th straight at home, which pushed their record up to 19-4.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Saturday. St. Albans hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.9 home runs per game. However, it's not like Lincoln County struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.7. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
St. Albans came up short against Lincoln County in their previous meeting back in April of 2023, falling 11-6. Can St. Albans avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
