A feisty cat fight will be fought as Carterville Lions face off against Livingston Central Cardinals at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Carterville is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7.3 runs per game this season.
Carterville's pitching crew heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They blew past Paducah Tilghman 10-0. The high-scoring effort was just what the Lions needed considering they were shut out in their previous contest.
Caidence Phillips
| 03/28/25 vs Paducah Tilghman | 4 |
| 05/25/24 vs Johnston City | 2 |
| 03/20/24 @ DuQuoin | 2 |
| 03/19/24 @ Carmi-White County | 2 |
| 03/16/24 vs Graves County | 2 |
Caidence Phillips made a big impact while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, keeping things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out nine over five innings pitched. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't tossed less than nine strikeouts in four consecutive appearances. She was also stellar in the batter's box, going a perfect 4-for-4 with one home run and four RBI. Those four RBI gave her a new career-high.
In other batting news, Kendall Henrikesen was a standout: she scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-2. Another player making a difference was Savannah Gibbs, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
Carterville always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .516. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Paducah Tilghman only posted an OBP of .167.
Meanwhile, Livingston Central earned a 5-1 win over Johnston City on Friday.
Like Carterville, Livingston Central also got a great game from a two-way player: Addison Tramble. She struck out 12 batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. Tramble was also big at the plate, scoring a run while going 3-for-4.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Victoria Joiner, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3. Hadley Hargrove was another key player, scoring a run while going 1-for-3.
Carterville is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games. That's provided a nice bump to their 5-2 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.4 runs on average over those games. Livingston Central now has a winning record of 4-3.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Saturday. Carterville hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.6 home runs per game. However, it's not like Livingston Central struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 0.6 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Carterville took their win against Livingston Central in their previous matchup back in March of 2024 by a conclusive 7-1. Does Carterville have another victory up their sleeve, or will Livingston Central turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
