Softball Preview: Stearns Minutemen vs. Penobscot Valley Howlers
Stearns and Penobscot Valley are an even 5-5 against one another since May of 2019, but likely not for long. The Stearns Minutemen will head out on the road to square off against the Penobscot Valley Howlers at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The pair are strolling into their matchups after big wins in their previous games.
Having struggled with three defeats in a row, Stearns finally turned things around against Schenck on Friday. Everything went Stearns' way against Schenck as Stearns made off with a 16-1 victory. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for Stearns considering their one-run performance the contest before.
Meanwhile, Penobscot Valley put another one in the bag on Monday to keep their perfect season alive. They never let Schenck onto the board and left with a 10-0 win. The result was nothing new for Penobscot Valley, who have now won three games by ten runs or more so far this season.
Lauren Veino made a big impact no matter where she played. On the mound, she kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out 13 over five innings pitched. Veino has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than two walks every time she's pitched this season. Veino was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 1-for-3.
In other batting news, Shay Ireland was excellent, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 1-for-3. Allie LeBlanc was another key contributor, scoring two runs and stealing three bases.
Stearns' record now sits at 2-3. As for Penobscot Valley, their victory was their eighth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 4-0.
Stearns might still be hurting after the 13-1 loss they got from Penobscot Valley in their previous meeting last Monday. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Veino, who didn't allow a single earned run and only two hits while striking out ten over five innings pitched. Now that Stearns 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
