With a playoff game on the line, Saint James rose to the challenge on Thursday. They had just enough and edged the Winfield Pirates out 3-2. The win was nothing new for Saint James as they're now sitting on 12 straight.
Emily Needham spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered two runs (both of which were unearned) on three hits and racked up ten Ks. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in 14 consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Lily Stanford, who scored a run and stole two bases while going 3-for-3. Another player making a difference was Arden Green, who scored a run while going 2-for-3.
Saint James is on a roll lately: they've won 21 of their last 22 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 37-2 record this season. As for Winfield, their loss dropped their record down to 37-7.
Saint James is on the road again on Thursday to play Piedmont at 10:45 a.m. Both teams have allowed few runs on average, (Piedmont: 2.6, Saint James: 1.7) so any runs scored will be well earned. As for Winfield, they will face off against Excel on Thursday. Winfield's pitching crew has only allowed 1.5 runs per game this season, so Excel's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
