Softball Preview: Avon Grove Red Devils vs. Downingtown West Whippets
Avon Grove is 0-10 against Downingtown West since April of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Avon Grove Red Devils will head out on the road to take on the Downingtown West Whippets at 3:45 p.m. Both teams have allowed few runs on average, (Avon Grove: 2, Downingtown West: 1) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Avon Grove is hoping to deliver their fans another blowout on Thursday, just like they did against Bishop Shanahan (and have done all season long). Avon Grove beat Bishop Shanahan on Tuesday by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 9-0. The win made it back-to-back victories for Avon Grove.
Elle Burns was a major factor while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run while striking out seven over seven innings pitched. Burns was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
In other batting news, Elle Morris and Anna Heisler did most of the damage at the plate: Morris scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-3, while Heisler scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-5. Another player making a difference was Michaela Sycalik, who went 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI.
Meanwhile, Downingtown West put another one in the bag on Wednesday to keep their perfect season alive. Their pitcher stepped up to hand Sun Valley a 2-0 shutout.
The result came thanks to Addison Carter's shutout, as she gave up just two hits and racked up 11 Ks. She has been consistent recently: she hasn't pitched less than seven innings in three consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Jaylyn McIntire, who went 1-for-2 with a home run.
Avon Grove has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 9-5 record this season. As for Downingtown West, their victory was their 18th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 16-0.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Avon Grove has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.2 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Downingtown West struggles in that department as they've been averaging 11.4. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Avon Grove suffered a grim 11-1 defeat to Downingtown West in their previous matchup back in April. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Carter, who didn't allow a single earned run while striking out six over five innings pitched. Now that Avon Grove knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
