The Hardaway Hawks will face off against the Chattahoochee County Panthers at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Hardaway has four straight wins, Chattahoochee County has six straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
While Hardaway didn't have the best season last year (they finished 8-14-1), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. Everything went their way against Coosa on Monday as Hardaway made off with an 11-1 victory. Fans of the Hawks have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout of 6+ runs.
Jayden Foster
| 02/17/25 vs Coosa | 3 |
| 02/10/25 @ Monroe | 1 |
| 04/18/24 vs Jordan | 1 |
| 03/28/24 @ Westover | 1 |
| 03/28/24 @ Westover | 1 |
Jayden Foster made a splash while hitting and pitching. He struck out six batters over six innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. Foster was also big at the plate, going 3-for-4 with one RBI. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in hits (three).
In other batting news, Christian Eleby was a standout: he scored two runs and stole three bases while going 3-for-4. Eleby is crushing it when it comes to stolen bases: he's stolen at least one every time he's taken the field this season. A'Nazhe Purnell was another key player, scoring three runs and stealing five bases while going 2-for-2.
Hardaway always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .562. That was just more of the same: they've now posted an OBP of .500 or higher every time they've taken the field this season.
Meanwhile, Monday just wasn't the day for Chattahoochee County's offense. They came up short against Jordan on Monday, falling 10-0.
Chattahoochee County saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Khalib Fleming, who went 2-for-3 with one double. That double marked the first that Fleming's hit this season.
Chattahoochee County's loss dropped their record down to 0-4. As for Hardaway, their win bumped their record up to 4-0.
Chattahoochee County's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Hardaway hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having hit 0 of their hits per game. It's a different story for Chattahoochee County, though, as they've only hit 0 of their hits this season. Will they be able to contain Hardaway's hitters?
Hardaway took their victory against Chattahoochee County when the teams last played on Thursday by a conclusive 14-1. Will Hardaway repeat their success, or does Chattahoochee County have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
