Fairbanks is on a 17-game streak of home wins (dating back to last season), while London is on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Panthers will welcome the Red Raiders at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Fairbanks' pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They were the clear victors by a 16-0 margin over Northeastern. The win continues a trend for the Panthers in their matchups with the Jets: they've now won four in a row.
Fairbanks got a massive performance out of Jenna Dee, who went 3-for-4 with one home run, three runs, and four RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Macy Kise, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with three RBI, two runs, and one triple.
Fairbanks was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .576. The last time their batting average was this high was back in May of 2024.
Meanwhile, London won against Urbana on Monday with 11 runs and they decided to stick to that run total again on Wednesday. The Red Raiders didn't even let the Hillclimbers on the board, marking the Red Raiders' second-straight 11-0 shutout.
Sophie Alt was a major factor while hitting and pitching. She tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Alt was also big at the plate, going 1-for-2 with one triple, one run, and one RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Bella Peterman, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with three stolen bases, four RBI, and one run. Those three stolen bases gave her a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Khloe Spencer, who got on base in three of her four plate appearances with two runs, one double, and one RBI.
London is on a roll lately: they've won 11 of their last 12 matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 14-2 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.5 runs on average over those games. As for Fairbanks, their win bumped their record up to 14-1.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Thursday. Fairbanks hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 1 home runs per game. However, it's not like London struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 0.7 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Fairbanks took their victory against London when the teams last played back in April of 2017 by a conclusive 9-2 score. Will the Panthers repeat their success, or do the Red Raiders have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
