Softball Preview: Spanish Springs Cougars vs. Douglas Tigers
Spanish Springs has enjoyed a three-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will square off against the Douglas Tigers at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
On Tuesday, Spanish Springs sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with an 8-7 victory over Damonte Ranch.
The team relied heavily on Joey Jacobs, who scored two runs while going 2-for-3. McKenna Timmons was another key contributor, scoring two runs while going 3-for-5.
Meanwhile, Douglas waltzed into their contest on Tuesday with eight straight wins... but they left with nine. Their pitcher stepped up to hand the Lancers a 4-0 shutout. Give Douglas' pitching crew some credit: that's the team's third straight shutout.
Not much got past Talia Tretton, who gave up just three hits and racked up 16 Ks to keep McQueen off the board. Tretton has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't pitched less than five innings in three consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Annie Hill, who went 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBI, and a double.
Spanish Springs is on a roll lately: they've won 17 of their last 18 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 25-4 record this season. As for Douglas, their win was their 20th straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 23-4.
Spanish Springs' speedy runners might be the difference in Thursday's game. Spanish Springs has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 3.4 stolen bases per game. It's a different story for Douglas, though, as they've been averaging only 0.5. Will they be able to secure the bases, or will Spanish Springs continue to outrun the ball?
Spanish Springs couldn't quite finish off Douglas in their previous meeting back in March and fell 3-1. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Tretton, who struck out 11 batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned run off six hits (and not a single walk). Now that Spanish Springs knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
