vs
| 04/23/24 - Away | 2-18 L |
| 04/03/24 - Home | 11-21 L |
| 04/03/24 - Home | 2-28 L |
| 04/22/23 - Away | 2-3 L |
| 04/22/23 - Away | 13-4 W |
| + 5 more games |
St. Maries and Orofino are an even 5-5 against one another since April of 2022, but likely not for long. The Lumberjacks will challenge the Maniacs at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. St. Maries' hitters haven't had much luck over their past three games, but Saturday's match will give them a chance to turn things around.
St. Maries came into this matchup off a tough eight-run loss on Thursday. This time they kept things ultra-competitive, but unfortunately the final result was the same. They fell just short of Timberlake by a score of 4-2 on Thursday. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest defeat the Lumberjacks have suffered since April 20, 2024.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Orofino). They were the clear victors by a 41-4 margin over Priest River on Friday. The Maniacs might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won seven contests by ten runs or more this season.
Sady Olive made a big impact no matter where she played. On the mound, she didn't allow a single earned run while striking out six over five innings pitched. Olive was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring three runs and stealing a base while going 4-for-6. Those four hits gave her a new career-high.
In other batting news, Orofino got a massive performance out of Paige Deyo, who went 3-for-6 with four runs, five RBI, and three doubles. Rilee Diffin was another key player, going 4-for-7 with five runs, five RBI, and one double.
Orofino was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .509. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .324 or higher in four consecutive games.
Orofino's victory was their sixth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 8-2. The road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 28.5 runs over those games. As for St. Maries, their loss dropped their record down to 6-4.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Saturday. St. Maries hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.4 home runs per game. However, it's not like Orofino struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 1 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
St. Maries might still be hurting after the 18-2 defeat they got from Orofino in their previous matchup back in April of 2024. Can the Lumberjacks avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
