The Wake Forest Cougars will head out on the road to square off against the Wakefield Wolverines at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Wake Forest sitting on three straight victories and Wakefield on 12.
Wake Forest is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. They came out on top against Corinth Holders by a score of 6-1.
Jilian Livengood spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned run on two hits and racked up ten Ks. She has been consistent recently: she hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in six consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Kaylee Bowers, who went 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs, and two RBI. Jazzmyn Ohlson was another key contributor, scoring two runs while going 2-for-2.
Meanwhile, it may have taken eight innings to finish the job, but Wakefield ultimately got the result they hoped for on Thursday. They had just enough and edged Lumberton out 2-1.
Wakefield also let their pitcher toss all eight innings and she was also dialed-in: Dayna Bland gave up only one earned run on three hits and racked up seven Ks.
On the hitting side, Brianna Riehle was excellent, going 1-for-3 with a home run. Another player making a difference was Brenna Colleran, who scored a run and stole a base while going 2-for-3.
Wake Forest's win was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 16-6. As for Wakefield, their victory bumped their record up to 24-2.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Wake Forest has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 10.5 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Wakefield struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.2. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Wake Forest came up short against Wakefield when the teams last played two weeks ago, falling 7-3. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Bland, who struck out nine batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off six hits (and only one walk). Now that Wake Forest knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
