Softball Game Preview: Vance Charter Knights vs. North Duplin Rebels

The Vance Charter Knights will square off against the North Duplin Rebels on Friday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Vance Charter 3.2, North Duplin 2.1) so any runs scored will be well earned.

Vance Charter is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They beat East Bladen by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 7-2. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Knights.

Leah Rice

Batters Struck Out

05/06/25 vs East Bladen	10
05/01/25 vs Oxford Prep	8
04/30/25 @ Roxboro Community	3
04/29/25 vs Voyager Academy	0
04/25/25 @ Oxford Prep	14
+ 7 more games

Leah Rice was a major factor no matter where she played. On the mound, she struck out ten batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off six hits (and not a single walk). With that strong performance, she is now averaging an impressive 5.2 strikeouts per game. She was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Aubrey Puryear, who went 2-for-3 with one home run and three RBI.

Meanwhile, North Duplin entered their tilt with River Mill on Tuesday with two consecutive wins, and they'll enter their next game with three. Their pitchers stepped up to hand the Jaguars a 15-0 shutout. The Rebels might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won nine matchups by 15 runs or more this season.

North Duplin's win was their ninth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 13-3. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games. As for Vance Charter, their win bumped their record up to 12-4.