The Richlands Blue Tornado will head out on the road to face off against the Eastside Spartans at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Richlands 3.2, Eastside 1) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Richlands' pitching crew heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Wednesday. They blew past Tazewell 10-0. The Blue Tornado haven't had any issues with the Bulldogs recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive victory against them.
Averi Fuller made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, she didn't allow a single earned run while striking out six over five innings pitched. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than two walks any time she's pitched this season. She was also solid in the batter's box, going a perfect 2-for-2 with one double and one RBI.
In other batting news, Cami Spencer was incredible, going 1-for-3 with one home run, four RBI, and two runs. Those runs were her first of the season. Alli Hale was another key player, scoring a run while going 1-for-1.
Richlands was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .450. That's the best batting average they've posted all season.
Meanwhile, Eastside put another one in the bag on Wednesday to keep their perfect season alive. They came out on top against Gate City by a score of 4-0.
Like Richlands, Eastside also got a great game from a two-way player: Emma Sartin. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out 15 over seven innings pitched. Those 15 strikeouts gave Sartin a new career-high. She was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Sartin wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Braelyn Hall, who scored a run while going 1-for-3.
Eastside's win was their 15th straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 6-0. The road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.7 runs on average over those games. As for Richlands, they now have a winning record of 3-2.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Thursday. Richlands hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.6 home runs per game. However, it's not like Eastside struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.7 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Richlands came up short against Eastside in their previous meeting two weeks ago, falling 6-1. Can the Blue Tornado avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
