Softball Preview: Empire Ravens vs. Bourgade Catholic Golden Eagles
The Empire Ravens will head out on the road to square off against the Bourgade Catholic Golden Eagles at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Empire sitting on 14 straight wins and Bourgade Catholic on nine.
In what's become a running theme this season, Empire gave their fans yet another huge victory on Saturday. Everything went their way against Crismon as Empire made off with an 18-0 win. Give Empire's pitching crew some credit: that's the team's fourth straight shutout.
Not much got past Kendall Freidinger, who gave up just one hit and racked up 14 Ks to keep Crismon off the board. Freidinger has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in nine consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Morgan Faunce was a standout: she fired off two home runs, seven RBI, and three runs while going 3-for-4. Abby Zsitvay was another key contributor, going 2-for-2 with a home run, six RBI, and two runs.
Meanwhile, it may have taken nine innings to finish the job, but Bourgade Catholic ultimately got the result they hoped for on Saturday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Page 2-1.
Raina Navarro made a splash no matter where she played. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run while striking out eight over nine innings pitched. Navarro was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-3 with a triple, a stolen base, and an RBI.
Empire is on a roll lately: they've won 15 of their last 16 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 23-7 record this season. As for Bourgade Catholic, they pushed their record up to 20-2 with that win, which was their ninth straight at home.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Wednesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Empire has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.6 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Bourgade Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging 10.2. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other softball content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
