Softball Game Preview: North Hopkins Panthers vs. Sulphur Bluff Bears

For the second straight game, North Hopkins will face off against Sulphur Bluff. The Panthers will look to defend their home field on Thursday against the Bears at 4:30 p.m. North Hopkins is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 11.5 runs per game this season.

North Hopkins' pitching crew heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Tuesday. They blew past Sulphur Bluff 19-0. The Panthers haven't had any issues with the Bears recently, as the game was their fifth consecutive victory against them.

Daylee Fite

Batters Struck Out

04/15/25 @ Sulphur Bluff	8
04/11/25 vs Celeste	9
04/08/25 @ Celeste	5
04/01/25 @ Cooper	9
04/01/25 vs Cooper	11
+ 2 more games

Daylee Fite made a splash no matter where she played. On the mound, she kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out eight over four innings pitched. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in seven consecutive appearances. She was also stellar in the batter's box, getting on base in all four of her plate appearances with three runs, four RBI, and one stolen base. That's the most RBI she has posted since back in March.

In other batting news, Stevanna Buchanan was incredible, going 3-for-4 with two runs, one triple, and one stolen base. That triple marked the first that she hit this season. Another player making a difference was Macey Hoelscher, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3.

North Hopkins was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .577. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their batting average total in three consecutive games.

North Hopkins' win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 10-3. Those road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games. As for Sulphur Bluff, they are on an 11-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 2-11.