Central had lost five straight on the road, but on Thursday they dropped down to 10-17-1 to make it six. They fell just short of the Dundee-Crown Chargers by a score of 2-1. The Rockets were not able to repeat the success they had when they faced the Chargers earlier this season, when they won 5-3.
Claire Smith was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: she tossed six innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off three hits. The dominant performance also gave her a new career-low in walks (zero).
On the hitting side, Central saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Mei Shirokawa, who got on base in three of her four plate appearances with one stolen base, one run, and one double.
As for Dundee-Crown, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games. That's provided a nice bump to their 12-18 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.8 runs on average over those games.
On Dundee-Crown's side, Liv Grugel spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned run on six hits. Grugel has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up more than one earned run in three consecutive appearances.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Jordyn Jeffs, who went 1-for-3 with one home run.
Central does not have any more games scheduled as of now. As for Dundee-Crown, they will square off against Palatine at 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
