Softball Preview: Avon Grove Red Devils vs. Downingtown East Cougars
Avon Grove and Downingtown East are an even 5-5 against one another since March of 2018, but likely not for long. The Avon Grove Red Devils will head out on the road to challenge the Downingtown East Cougars at 3:45 p.m. on Friday. The pair have allowed few runs on average, (Avon Grove: 2.4, Downingtown East: 0.9) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Avon Grove can't be too worried about heading out to take on Downingtown East: they just beat Bayard Rustin at home, who had been dominant on their own field up to that point. Avon Grove skirted past Bayard Rustin 5-3.
Elle Burns spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered just two earned (and one unearned) runs on four hits.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Gabby Beltran, who went 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBI.
Meanwhile, Downingtown East came tearing into Wednesday's game with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 13.3 runs) and they left with even more momentum. Everything went their way against the Patriots as they made off with an 11-3 victory. The result was nothing new for Downingtown East, who have now won seven matchups by seven runs or more so far this season.
Downingtown East also let their pitcher toss all seven innings and she was also dialed-in: Sam Wendig gave up three runs (all of which were unearned) on six hits and racked up seven Ks.
At the plate, Rachael Schumann was a standout: she got on base in four of her five plate appearances with two runs, a triple, and two RBI. Another player making a difference was Hailey Long, who scored a run while going 4-for-5.
Avon Grove pushed their record up to 7-4 with that win, which was their third straight on the road. As for Downingtown East, their victory bumped their record up to 12-1.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Avon Grove has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 6.9 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Downingtown East struggles in that department as they've been averaging 11.8. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Avon Grove came up short against Downingtown East in their previous matchup back in March, falling 4-1. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Schumann, who struck out six batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned run off four hits. Now that Avon Grove knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
