Softball Game Preview: Shepard Astros vs. Oak Lawn Spartans

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Previous Games

04/21/25 - Home	8-0 W
05/08/24 - Away	12-0 W
04/15/24 - Home	3-0 W
05/09/23 - Home	0-1 L
04/19/23 - Away	13-1 W
+ 5 more games

Shepard has gone 9-1 against Oak Lawn recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Tuesday. The Astros are taking a road trip to square off against the Spartans at 4:30 p.m. Shepard's pitching crew has only allowed 2.1 runs per game this season, so Oak Lawn's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

Shepard proved they can win big on Thursday (they won by 14) and on Monday they proved they can win the close ones too. Their pitchers stepped up to hand Reavis a 2-0 shutout. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Astros have posted since April 15th.

Meanwhile, Oak Lawn had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 9.5 runs) and they went ahead and made it five on Thursday. Everything went their way against the Hawks as they made off with a 15-0 win. The result was nothing new for the Spartans, who have now won seven matches by seven runs or more so far this season.

The team relied heavily on Katie Casey, who got on base in all three of her plate appearances with three RBI and two runs. That's the most RBI she has posted since back in March of 2024. Teagan Kryzstof was another key player, getting on base in both of her plate appearances with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.

Oak Lawn was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .467. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .406 or higher in five consecutive games.

Shepard has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 11 of their last 12 contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 20-4 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.6 runs on average over those games. As for Oak Lawn, they pushed their record up to 12-9 with the win, which was their third straight on the road.

Everything went Shepard's way against Oak Lawn when the teams last played two weeks ago, as Shepard made off with an 8-0 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Astros since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.