A feisty cat fight will be fought as Paradise Panthers take on Ponder Lions at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Paradise will roll into the match after a wild two-game stretch: they didn't score any runs on Saturday, then bounced right back against Callisburg on Monday. Paradise's pitchers stepped up to hand Callisburg a 21-0 shutout. The victory continues a trend for the Panthers in their matchups with the Wildcats: they've now won four in a row.
While Ponder didn't have the best season last year (they finished 10-16), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. Everything went their way against Castleberry on Friday as Ponder made off with a 16-1 win. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Ponder.
Vada Cochrum spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered a run (which was unearned) on three hits and racked up 16 Ks. Those 16 strikeouts set a new season-high mark for her.
At the plate, Ponder got a massive performance out of Kami Thorson, who fired off four doubles, three runs, and four RBI while going 5-for-5. Those five hits gave Thorson a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Brooke Matamoros, who went 2-for-5 with one home run, three runs, and three RBI.
Thorson wasn't the only one working in the hit department: Ponder kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 14 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least 11 hits every time they've taken the field this season.
Paradise's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 11-3-2. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Ponder, their win bumped their record up to 4-1.
Paradise beat Ponder 8-4 when the teams last played back in April of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for Paradise since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
