On Saturday, Belgrade faced Russell in a battle between two of the state's top teams. The Belgrade Panthers narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past the Russell Rustlers 4-3. Winning may never get old, but Belgrade sure is getting used to it with their third in a row.
Olivia Mills spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned (and two unearned) runs on four hits and racked up eight Ks.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Sitara Osler, who went 2-for-2 with a home run and three runs. Ella Seaman was another key contributor, going 1-for-3 with a home run.
On Russell's side, they saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Kieva Mapes, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
Belgrade pushed their record up to 13-3 with that win, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season. As for Russell, they have been struggling recently as they've lost seven of their last eight matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-9 record this season.
Belgrade will have a chance to go back-to-back against Russell: the pair's next game is a rematch scheduled at 5:00 p.m. on Monday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps