Softball Preview: Oakcrest Falcons vs. Holy Spirit Spartans
The Oakcrest Falcons are on the road again on Wednesday to play the Holy Spirit Spartans at 4:00 p.m. Oakcrest is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 11.7 runs per game this season.
Oakcrest is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 18 runs on Wednesday, they were much more limited against Cumberland on Thursday. They fell 6-1 to the Colts.
Chrystral Williams was huge no matter where she played even without the win. On the mound, she struck out seven batters over six innings while giving up just two earned (and four unearned) runs off ten hits. Williams has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't tossed less than seven strikeouts in four consecutive pitching appearances. Williams was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-3.
Williams wasn't the only one making solid contact as five players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Mia Priestley, who went 1-for-1 with a stolen base.
Holy Spirit never got on the board in their matchup two weeks ago, but that sure wasn't the case in their game against Wildwood Catholic last Monday. They walked away with a 12-8 victory over the Crusaders.
Holy Spirit got a massive performance out of Reilly Byrnes, who scored a run and stole two bases while going 2-for-3. Mary Kate Armstrong was another key contributor, getting on base in all five of her plate appearances with two RBI and a double.
Oakcrest's loss ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 11-5. As for Holy Spirit, the win got them back to even at 8-8.
Holy Spirit's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Oakcrest hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .359. It's a different story for Holy Spirit, though, as they've only averaged .229. Will they be able to contain Oakcrest's hitters?
Oakcrest might still be hurting after the 7-0 defeat they got from Holy Spirit in their previous matchup back in April. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Holy Spirit's Mia Merlino, who didn't allow a single earned run while striking out six over 6.1 innings pitched. Now that Oakcrest 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
