Burley has won eight straight games at home, while Wood River has won eight straight on the road, but those streaks won't matter much on Monday. The Bobcats will host the Wolverines at 4:30 p.m. Burley is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7.3 runs per game this season.
Burley let Jerome stack five runs on them in the seventh inning on Saturday but luckily Burley prevailed anyway. The Bobcats came out on top in a nail-biter against the Tigers, sneaking past 7-6. The win continues a trend for the Bobcats in their matchups with the Tigers: they've now won four in a row.
Katelyn Hege and Marhi Robins did most of the damage at the plate: Hege went 1-for-3 with two stolen bases, one run, and one RBI, while Robins went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, one run, and one RBI.
Burley always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .556. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Jerome only posted an OBP of .417.
Meanwhile, while Wood River put up plenty of runs on Thursday, the same can't be said for Minico. The Wolverines blew past the Spartans 11-0. The result was nothing new for the Wolverines, who have now won nine matches by seven runs or more so far this season.
Paityn Nelson made a big impact while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run while striking out nine over six innings pitched. Those nine strikeouts gave her a new career-high. She was also stellar in the batter's box, firing off two home runs and three RBI while going 2-for-3.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Emmalese Nilsen, who went 2-for-3 with one home run, three RBI, and one double. Another player making a difference was Marlee McLean, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run.
Wood River has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven contests. That's provided a massive bump to their 13-12 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 13.4 runs over those games. As for Burley, their win bumped their record up to 12-8.
Wood River's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Burley has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 9.7 hits per game. It's a different story for Wood River, though, as they've been averaging 9.4 hits. Given Burley's sizable advantage in that area, the Wolverines will need to find a way to close that gap.
Burley was able to grind out a solid victory over Wood River in their previous meeting back in April, winning 15-12. Do the Bobcats have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Wolverines turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
