The Bradley-Bourbonnais Boilermakers will look to defend their home field on Saturday against the Illiana Christian Vikings at 11:00 a.m. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (Bradley-Bourbonnais: 2.7, Illiana Christian: 2.1) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Bradley-Bourbonnais stacked a 12th blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Friday. They never let Kankakee onto the board and left with a 14-0 win. The high-scoring effort was just what Bradley-Bourbonnais needed considering they were shutout in their previous matchup.
Libby Spaulding made a splash while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and only one hit while striking out ten over five innings pitched. Spaulding has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't pitched less than five innings in 12 consecutive pitching appearances. Spaulding was also big at the plate, scoring a run while going 2-for-3.
In other batting news, Bradley-Bourbonnais got a massive performance out of Suttyn Hop, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 3-for-3. Bella Pusateri was another key contributor, going 3-for-4 with three runs and a triple.
Meanwhile, Illiana Christian had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6.7 runs), and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 3-2 victory over the Bulldogs.
Mikayla Derks spent all ten innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on seven hits and racked up seven Ks.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Maya Wondaal, who got on base in three of her five plate appearances with a home run, a stolen base, and two RBI.
Bradley-Bourbonnais' win ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 22-10. As for Illiana Christian, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 18-3 record this season.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Bradley-Bourbonnais has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 10.4 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Illiana Christian struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.4. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Bradley-Bourbonnais was able to grind out a solid victory over Illiana Christian in their previous meeting back in May of 2023, winning 5-0. Will Bradley-Bourbonnais repeat their success, or does Illiana Christian have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
