The Hoover Huskies will face off against the Shady Spring Tigers at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Hoover 2.1, Shady Spring 4) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Hoover is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of West Virginia's top teams: Riverside, who was ranked 23rd at the time (Hoover was ranked tenth). The Huskies walked away with a 6-2 win over the Warriors on Thursday. The victory continues a trend for the Huskies in their matchups with the Warriors: they've now won four in a row.
Hannah Shamblin spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on four hits. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than two walks in 20 consecutive appearances.
Emma Hanson
| 05/01/25 vs Riverside | 2 |
| 04/24/25 vs Nitro | 1 |
| 04/21/25 @ Ripley | 1 |
| 04/18/25 @ Independence | 1 |
| 03/21/25 vs Logan | 1 |
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Emma Hanson, who went 2-for-3 with two RBI and one run. Those two RBI gave her a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Ayva Veltri, who went 3-for-4 with one RBI.
Meanwhile, Shady Spring had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6 runs) and they went ahead and made it four on Thursday. They came within a single run of losing the streak, but they secured a 2-1 W against Princeton.
Shady Spring also let their pitcher toss all six innings played and she was also dialed-in: Jenna Joyce gave up only one earned run on two hits and racked up 12 Ks.
At the plate, Shady Spring's win was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Lacy Osborne, who went 2-for-3 with one RBI.
Hoover pushed their record up to 18-5 with the victory, which was their fourth straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.3 runs over those games. As for Shady Spring, their victory bumped their record up to 11-8.
Shady Spring's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Hoover hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .334. It's a different story for Shady Spring, though, as they've only averaged .258. Will they be able to contain Hoover's hitters?
Hoover was able to grind out a solid win over Shady Spring in their previous meeting back in March, winning 3-0. Will the Huskies repeat their success, or do the Tigers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
