Softball Preview: South Bend St. Joseph Huskies vs. Penn Kingsmen
South Bend St. Joseph is 1-9 against Penn since May of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The South Bend St. Joseph Huskies are on the road again to play the Penn Kingsmen at 6:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
South Bend St. Joseph is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Friday. Their pitcher stepped up to hand Mishawaka an 8-0 shutout.
Not much got past Berkley Zache, who gave up just two hits and racked up 12 Ks to keep Mishawaka off the board. Zache has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't tossed less than 11 strikeouts in 13 consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Payton Wulf and Riley Zache did most of the damage at the plate: Wulf went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI, while Zache went 1-for-2 with two runs, a triple, and two RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Kenadie Schrock, who went 2-for-4 with a triple, a run, and an RBI.
Meanwhile, Penn had already won eight in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 7.9 runs), and they went ahead and made it nine on Friday. They put the hurt on the Lions with a sharp 12-1 win. Penn's victory was all the more impressive since Elkhart was averaging only four runs allowed on the season.
Penn also got a great performance from Aubrey Zachary as she didn't allow a single earned run and only one hit while striking out six over five innings pitched.
At the plate, Logan Rumble was incredible, going 2-for-4 with a home run, four RBI, and two runs. Ashlyn Kronewitter was another key contributor, going 2-for-4 with a triple, two RBI, and a run.
South Bend St. Joseph is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 22-5 record this season. As for Penn, their win bumped their record up to 25-6.
Tuesday's matchup will be a test for both team's pitchers. South Bend St. Joseph hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .348. However, it's not like Penn struggles in that department as they've averaged .402. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
South Bend St. Joseph might still be hurting after the 8-2 defeat they got from Penn when the teams last played on May 6th. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Zachary, who struck out 13 batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off two hits. Now that South Bend St. Joseph knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
