Softball Game Preview: Hoover Huskies vs. Ripley Vikings

The Hoover Huskies will venture away from home to challenge the Ripley Vikings at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Hoover has five straight wins, Ripley has four straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

Hoover's pitching crew heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. Everything went their way against South Charleston as they made off with an 8-0 victory. The result was nothing new for the Huskies, who have now won five contests by eight runs or more so far this season.

Hannah Shamblin made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, she kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out nine over five innings pitched. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than one walk in nine consecutive appearances. She was also big at the plate, scoring two runs while getting on base in two of her three plate appearances.

In other batting news, Bella Haas was excellent, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-2. Another player making a difference was Kyleigh Elmore, who scored a run while going 1-for-2.

Hoover was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .429. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .414 or higher in four consecutive games.

Meanwhile, Ripley didn't have quite enough to beat Capital on Friday and fell 8-7.

Ripley's defeat dropped their record down to 1-7. As for Hoover, their record is now 10-2.

Everything went Hoover's way against Ripley in their previous matchup back in March of 2024, as Hoover made off with a 14-2 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Huskies since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.