Softball Game Preview: Brookhaven Panthers vs. Pearl Pirates

The Brookhaven Panthers will venture away from home to challenge the Pearl Pirates at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.

Pearl will be up against a hot Brookhaven team: the squad just extended their winning streak to four. Everything went Brookhaven's way against Franklin County on Friday as Brookhaven made off with a 14-2 victory.

Brookhaven let Journi Hunt and Kennedi Dickey run wild. Hunt scored two runs while going 3-for-3, while Dickey went a perfect 1-for-1 with two runs, one triple, and one stolen base. That triple was Dickey's first of the season. Another player making a difference was Jaziya Wilson, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with three RBI and one triple.

Brookhaven always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .643. The last time their OBP was this high was back in April of 2024.

Meanwhile, Pearl was not the first on the board on Friday, but they got there more often. They were the clear victor by a 15-4 margin over West Lincoln. While the Pirates didn't have the best season last year (they finished 7-16-2), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past.

Brookhaven pushed their record up to 7-3 with the win, which was their third straight at home. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.0 runs on average over those games. As for Pearl, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 5-1.

Brookhaven came out on top in a nail-biter against Pearl in their previous matchup on Tuesday, sneaking past 7-5. The rematch might be a little tougher for Brookhaven since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.