The Marlington Dukes will venture away from home to square off against the Hillsdale Falcons at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Marlington 3.7, Hillsdale 3.2) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Marlington fell victim to West Branch and their airtight pitching crew on Wednesday. They took a 5-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Warriors. Having soared to a lofty 16 runs in the game before, the Dukes' shutout was a dramatic turnaround.
Meanwhile, Hillsdale waltzed into their game on Thursday with nine straight wins... but they left with ten. They never let the Smithies get on the board and left with a 12-0 win. The result was nothing new for the Falcons, who have now won eight contests by seven runs or more so far this season.
Kennedy Fickes was incredible, firing off two home runs and four RBI while going 3-for-4. Another player making a difference was Ally Morgan, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs, two doubles, and one stolen base.
Hillsdale hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. The team has now struck out at least three batters in seven consecutive matches.
Hillsdale pushed their record up to 11-1 with the victory, which was their fifth straight on the road. Those road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.2 runs on average over those games. As for Marlington, their defeat was their first in the conference, dropping their conference record down to 2-1 and their overall record down to 5-2.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Friday. Marlington hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 1 home runs per game. However, it's not like Hillsdale struggles in that department as they've been averaging 1.3 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down. Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other softball content.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
