Softball Game Preview: Billings West Golden Bears vs. Gallatin Raptors

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Previous Games

05/04/24 - Away	5-4 W
04/05/24 - Home	19-18 W
04/27/23 - Away	13-1 W
04/06/23 - Home	14-3 W
05/06/22 - Home	19-0 W
+ 3 more games

Billings West has gone a perfect 8-0 against Gallatin recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Golden Bears are taking a road trip to face off against the Raptors at 3:00 p.m. Billings West's pitching crew has only allowed 2.2 runs per game this season, so Gallatin's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

Tuesday just wasn't the day for Billings West's offense. They took a 3-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of Belgrade on Tuesday. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last five times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.

Meanwhile, Gallatin strolled into their game on Tuesday with a perfect record and they left with the same. Everything went their way against Helena as they made off with an 8-2 win.

Addison Bleile spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on five hits and racked up nine Ks.

At the plate, Parker Stevens and Zoe Bassham did most of the damage at the plate: Stevens scored two runs while going 2-for-4, while Bassham scored two runs while going 2-for-3. Another player making a difference was Shayla Clark, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-3.

Gallatin's victory was their fifth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 3-0. The road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.8 runs over those games. As for Billings West, their defeat was their first of the season and makes their record 5-1.

Billings West came out on top in a nail-biter against Gallatin when the teams last played back in May of 2024, sneaking past 5-4. Will the Golden Bears repeat their success, or do the Raptors have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.