Softball Preview: West Florence Knights vs. Sumter Gamecocks
West Florence is 7-2 against Sumter since March of 2017, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Monday. After both having extra time off, both teams will dust off their jerseys to square off against one another at 6:00 p.m. West Florence's pitching crew has only allowed 1.9 runs per game this season, so Sumter's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Two weeks ago, West Florence beat South Florence 8-4. The victory made it back-to-back wins for West Florence.
Annie Ruth Eliason was a major factor no matter where she played. She looked comfortable on the mound, striking out 14 batters over seven innings while giving up three earned (and one unearned) runs off only two hits. Eliason has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't pitched less than five innings every time she's pitched this season. Eliason was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
In other batting news, West Florence let Taryn Weatherford and Charisma Williams loose on the outfield. Weatherford went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a double, while Williams scored two runs and stole a base while getting on base in three of her four plate appearances. The team also got some help courtesy of Mia Boykin, who scored a run while going 2-for-4.
Sumter proved they can win big last Monday (they won by nine) but last Tuesday they proved they can win the close ones too. They narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past Socastee 18-16. Both teams can probably skip cardio this week after making that many trips around the bases.
Sumter got a massive performance out of Sydney Rhodes, who went 3-for-6 with a home run, five RBI, and three runs. Kiley Laux was another key contributor, firing off two home runs, three runs, and three RBI while going 4-for-5.
West Florence pushed their record up to 6-2 with that victory, which was their third straight at home. Those victories were due in large part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.3 runs per game. As for Sumter, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matches, which provided a nice bump to their 7-5 record this season.
West Florence beat Sumter 5-0 in their previous meeting back in February. Will West Florence repeat their success, or does Sumter have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
