Softball Game Preview: East Duplin Panthers vs. East Bladen Eagles

The East Duplin Panthers will venture away from home to face off against the East Bladen Eagles at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The two teams are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous games.

If East Duplin beats East Bladen with seven runs on Wednesday, it's going to be the team's new lucky number: they've won their past two contests with that exact score. The Panthers' pitchers stepped up to hand Southwest Onslow a 7-0 shutout on Tuesday. Considering the Panthers have won nine games by more than six runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask East Bladen). Everything went their way against Clinton on Monday as they made off with a 17-1 win. The Eagles haven't had any issues with the Dark Horses recently, as the game was their fifth consecutive victory against them.

Gracie Edwards made a big impact no matter where she played. On the mound, she didn't allow a single earned run over five innings pitched. Edwards was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-4 with three RBI and one run. Those three RBI gave her a new career-high.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Niyah Wooten, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with three stolen bases, four runs, and three RBI. Those three stolen bases gave her a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Gracie Clark, who got on base in all four of her plate appearances with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI.

East Bladen always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .590. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.

East Bladen now has a winning record of 8-7. As for East Duplin, they pushed their record up to 12-7 with the win, which was their third straight at home.

East Duplin beat East Bladen 7-3 when the teams last played back in May of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Panthers since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.