A feisty cat fight will be fought as Northwest Rankin Cougars challenge Petal Panthers at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Northwest Rankin sitting on nine straight wins and Petal on six.
Northwest Rankin is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Mississippi's top teams: Brandon, who was ranked fifth at the time (Northwest Rankin was ranked third). The Cougars walked away with an 8-5 victory over the Bulldogs on Tuesday.
Grace Wallis made a splash no matter where she played. On the mound, she struck out seven batters over seven innings while giving up three earned (and two unearned) runs off six hits. Wallis was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while going 2-for-4.
In other batting news, Hannah Sullivan was excellent, scoring a run while going 1-for-3. Jaliya Sullivian was another key player, going 1-for-3 with one home run.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Petal). They blew past Oak Grove 16-1 on Tuesday. With that win, the Panthers brought their scoring average up to 6.5 runs per game.
Jaley Weathersby looked comfortable as she tossed four innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits. She has been consistent for a while: she hasn't given up more than two walks in 13 consecutive appearances.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Taylor Foster, who went 3-for-4 with one home run, six RBI, and two runs. That's the most runs she has posted since back in February. The team also got some help courtesy of Layla Brock, who scored three runs and stole a base while getting on base in all four of her plate appearances.
Petal always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .629. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Northwest Rankin pushed their record up to 18-2 with the victory, which was their 20th straight on the road dating back to last season. The road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they've averaged 10.0 runs this season. As for Petal, their record is now 16-5.
Northwest Rankin beat Petal 5-2 in their previous matchup two weeks ago. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Cougars since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
