Softball Preview: Wayne County War Eagles vs. East Central Hornets
The Wayne County War Eagles will head out on the road to challenge the East Central Hornets at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Wayne County had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 12.3 runs), and they went ahead and made it five on Tuesday. They never let the Bulldogs onto the board and left with a 10-0 victory. Wayne County's pitching crew has been rock solid lately; the team hasn't given up a run in their last three contests.
Madison Newburn made a big impact while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, keeping things locked down with no earned runs or hits over five innings pitched. Newburn has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up a single walk in four consecutive pitching appearances. Newburn was also big at the plate, going 1-for-2 with three RBI and a double.
In other batting news, Annaston Tate was incredible, scoring three runs and stealing a base while going 4-for-4. She has been hot recently, having posted three or more hits the last three times she's played. Another player making a difference was Olivia Sims, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 1-for-3.
Meanwhile, East Central waltzed into their game on Tuesday with three straight wins... but they left with four. They put the hurt on the Gators with a sharp 10-0 win.
Baleigh Tullos was incredible, going 3-for-4 with three runs, three doubles, and two RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Bree Phillips, who went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI.
Wayne County pushed their record up to 13-10 with that victory, which was their third straight at home. Those good results were due in large part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.7 runs per game. As for East Central, their win bumped their record up to 17-3.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Friday. Wayne County hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.5 home runs per game. However, it's not like East Central struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.6. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Wayne County might still be hurting after the 7-1 defeat they got from East Central in their previous matchup two weeks ago. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of East Central's Abbie Huff, who didn't allow a single earned run and only one hit while striking out seven over seven innings pitched. Now that Wayne County 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
