The Liberty-Benton Eagles will venture away from home to take on the Vanlue Wildcats at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Liberty-Benton has eight straight victories, Vanlue has five straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
If Liberty-Benton beats Vanlue with ten runs on Monday, it's going to be the squad's new lucky number: they've won their past two contests with that exact score. The Eagles put the hurt on Carey with a sharp 10-1 win on Thursday. The Eagles might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four games by nine runs or more this season.
Reagan Knapke
| 04/10/25 @ Carey | 5 |
| 04/03/25 vs Miller City | 5 |
| 04/02/25 @ Ada | 5 |
Reagan Knapke made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, she pitched seven innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in three consecutive appearances. She was also solid in the batter's box, getting on base in all four of her plate appearances.
In other batting news, Liberty-Benton got a massive performance out of Hayden Gillig, who scored three runs and stole three bases while getting on base in four of her five plate appearances. Kylie Steinman was another key player, scoring two runs while going 2-for-5.
Liberty-Benton kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 13 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least 11 hits in four consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Vanlue duked it out with North Baltimore on Saturday. The Wildcats lost 21-2 to the Tigers.
Olivia Secord made the most of her time at bat despite the final result and scored a run and stole two bases while going 2-for-2.
Liberty-Benton pushed their record up to 8-1 with the victory, which was their sixth straight on the road dating back to last season. Those road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games. As for Vanlue, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-7.
Vanlue's hitters will have their work cut out for them on Monday. Liberty-Benton has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 6.8 strikeouts per game. It's a different story for Vanlue, though, as they've been averaging only 3.2 strikeouts. Will Liberty-Benton keep running through batters, or will the Wildcats buck the trend?
Everything went Liberty-Benton's way against Vanlue in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, as Liberty-Benton made off with a 13-0 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Eagles since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
