The South Central Falcons will square off against the Scotland Fighting Scots on Friday. Both teams are coming into the match red-hot, with South Central sitting on 12 straight victories and Scotland on 25.
South Central is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. Their pitcher stepped up to hand South Brunswick a 3-0 shutout. Three seems to be a good number for the Falcons as the squad scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Not much got past Somer Davenport, who gave up just a hit to keep South Brunswick off the board.
On the hitting side, South Central's victory was truly a team effort as five different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Haven Roebuck, who went 1-for-4 with one run and one double.
Meanwhile, Scotland won against Western Alamance on Thursday with five runs and they decided to stick to that run total again on Tuesday. The Fighting Scots came out on top against Cape Fear by a score of 5-2.
Avery Stutts was a major factor no matter where she played. On the mound, she struck out 13 batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned runs off four hits (and not a single walk). She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than two walks in nine consecutive appearances. She was also solid in the batter's box, going a perfect 2-for-2 with two RBI and one double.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Emily Sampson, who went 1-for-3 with two RBI, one run, and one double. Another player making a difference was Addison Johnson, who earned one run and two stolen bases.
Scotland hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. The team has now struck out at least three batters in nine consecutive games.
Scotland's win bumped their record up to 26-1. As for South Central, their victory bumped their record up to 20-6.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Friday. South Central 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 Scotland struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 0.7 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
South Central suffered a grim 10-2 defeat to Scotland in their previous meeting back in May of 2023. Can the Falcons avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
