Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but only Van Vleck walked away with it. They put the hurt on the Shepherd Pirates with a sharp 13-2 victory on Thursday. The result was nothing new for Van Vleck, who have now won 12 contests by six runs or more so far this season.
Lakyn Matchett was a major factor no matter where she played. On the mound, she struck out ten batters over five innings while giving up just two earned runs off two hits (and not a single walk). Matchett has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't pitched less than five innings in three consecutive pitching appearances. Matchett was also big at the plate, scoring a run while getting on base in three of her four plate appearances.
In other batting news, Olivia Britton was incredible, going 4-for-4 with two doubles, a triple, and two RBI. Jaila Wilson was another key contributor, going 1-for-3 with three RBI, a triple, and a run.
On Shepherd's side, Rylei N made the most of her time at bat despite the final result and went 1-for-2 with a home run and two RBI.
Van Vleck has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 14 of their last 16 games, which provided a nice bump to their 20-4-1 record this season. As for Shepherd, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 20-12.
Van Vleck will have a chance to go back-to-back against Shepherd: the pair's next game is a rematch scheduled at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
