Softball Game Preview: Coal City Coalers vs. Pontiac Indians

The Coal City Coalers will head out on the road to take on the Pontiac Indians at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. Coal City is coming into the match on a four-game losing streak.

Coal City came up short against Ottawa on Thursday, falling 12-6.

Madalyn Petersen and Khloe Picard stepped up to the plate in a big way. Petersen went 2-for-4 with three runs, while Picard went 2-for-4 with two RBI and one run. Addison Harvey was another key player, going 2-for-3 with one stolen base.

Meanwhile, while Pontiac put up some runs on Thursday, the same can't be said for Lincoln. The Indians walked away with a 5-0 win over the Railsplitters. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Indians.

Elena Krause made a splash while hitting and pitching. She didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits while striking out 14 over seven innings pitched. She has been consistent for a while: she hasn't given up more than two walks in 12 consecutive appearances. She was also big at the plate, going 3-for-4 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one double.

Krause wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Tessa Collins, who went 2-for-4 with one stolen base and one run. India Mattingly also deserves some recognition as she hit her first triple of the season.

Pontiac pushed their record up to 18-8 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road. Those road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.3 runs on average over those games. As for Coal City, their defeat dropped their record down to 17-11.

Coal City came up short against Pontiac when the teams last played back in May of 2024, falling 5-1. Can the Coalers avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.