Softball Game Preview: Plainfield East Bengals vs. Joliet West Tigers

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Previous Games

04/23/25 - Home	3-1 W
05/17/24 - Home	6-3 W
04/17/24 - Away	9-10 L
05/11/23 - Home	1-6 L
04/18/23 - Away	7-9 L
+ 5 more games

Plainfield East and Joliet West are an even 5-5 against one another since May of 2019, but likely not for long. The Bengals will head out on the road to challenge the Tigers at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a three-game winning streak alive.

Plainfield East proved they can win big on Wednesday (they won by 11) and on Thursday they proved they can win the close ones too. They narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past Plainfield South 5-4. The game snapped a strange streak: the last four times these teams have met, it?s been the away team that?s taken home the W.

Jocelyn Cushard spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered four earned runs on four hits and racked up 12 Ks.

On the hitting side, Plainfield East's victory was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Iliana Smith, who went 2-for-3 with two RBI and one double. Another was Natalie Utrata, who went 2-for-4 with one stolen base and one double.

Meanwhile, it was close, but on Thursday Joliet West sidestepped Romeoville for a 3-2 win.

Joliet West also let their pitcher toss all seven innings and she was also dialed-in: Madison Jadron gave up only one earned (and one unearned) run on six hits.

Joliet West's victory bumped their record up to 7-20. As for Plainfield East, their win bumped their record up to 19-11.

Joliet West's hitters will have their work cut out for them on Monday. Plainfield East has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8 strikeouts per game. It's a different story for Joliet West, though, as they've been averaging only 3.8 strikeouts. Will Plainfield East keep running through batters, or will the Tigers buck the trend?

Plainfield East came out on top in a nail-biter against Joliet West when the teams last played back in April, sneaking past 3-1. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Bengals since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.