Softball Preview: Harding Skippers vs. Pymatuning Valley Lakers
Harding is 0-4 against Pymatuning Valley since April of 2022 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Harding Skippers will be staying on the road to face off against the Pymatuning Valley Lakers at 4:30 p.m. Given that both teams suffered a loss in their last game, they both have a little extra motivation heading into this game.
On Thursday, Harding suffered a tough 9-2 defeat at the hands of Grand Valley.
Harding saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Madisen McFadden, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-3. Another player making a difference was Gabby Powalie, who went 1-for-3 with a stolen base, a double, and an RBI.
Meanwhile, Pymatuning Valley unfortunately witnessed the end of their seven-game winning streak on Thursday. They fell just short of Mathews by a score of 3-2. Having soared to a lofty 17 runs in the game before, Pymatuning Valley couldn't push the score so high this time.
Saige Payne spent all 7.1 innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered just two earned (and one unearned) runs on six hits. She has been consistent recently: she hasn't pitched less than five innings in seven consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Allison Clark made the most of her time at bat despite the final result and scored a run and stole a base while going 3-for-4.
Harding's loss dropped their record down to 1-6. As for Pymatuning Valley, their defeat ended a five-game streak of away wins and brought them to 7-1.
Harding might still be hurting after the 12-1 loss they got from Pymatuning Valley in their previous meeting back in March. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Payne, who struck out six batters over three innings while giving up just one earned run off one hit (and only one walk). Now that Harding knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
