The Smithfield Sentinels will head out to take on the Prout Crusaders at 4:30 p.m. on Monday. Smithfield will be strutting in after a victory while Prout will be coming in after a defeat.
Smithfield is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Rhode Island's top teams: Ponaganset, who was ranked 19th at the time (Smithfield was ranked 16th). The Sentinels put the hurt on the Chieftains with a sharp 11-1 win on Saturday. Considering the Sentinels' hitters had been struggling lately, the high-scoring outing was a much-needed turnaround.
Ava Lopez spent all six innings played on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered a run (which was unearned) on five hits.
At the plate, Giannah Tutt was a standout: she went 2-for-4 with three RBI, one stolen base, and one run. That's the most RBI she has posted since back in April. Mallory Cavanagh was another key player, going 2-for-4 with three runs and one RBI.
Meanwhile, Prout suffered their closest loss since April 21st on Saturday. They fell just short of Westerly by a score of 3-1. Having soared to a lofty 11 runs in the game before, the Crusaders couldn't push the score so high this time.
Prout's defeat was their third straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 8-10. Those road losses can't be blamed on the team's pitching effort, having only surrendered 4.0 runs on average over those games. As for Smithfield, their victory bumped their record up to 8-11-1.
Smithfield might still be hurting after the 12-1 defeat they got from Prout when the teams last played back in April. Can the Sentinels avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps