The Montpelier Locomotives will head out on the road to take on the Hilltop Cadets at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Montpelier sitting on six straight victories and Hilltop on 11.
In what's become a running theme this season, Montpelier gave their fans yet another huge win on Tuesday. They blew past Holgate 22-0. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for Montpelier considering their one-run performance the match before.
Madelyn Hopper and Neriah Thorp made a splash no matter where they played. Throwing, Hopper struck out eight batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and not a single walk). Meanwhile, Thorp pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Hopper has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't tossed less than seven strikeouts in 14 consecutive pitching appearances. At the plate, Hopper went 2-for-4 with a home run, four RBI, and two runs, while Thorp scored two runs while going 2-for-3.
In other batting news, Kelsie Bumb was incredible, scoring four runs and stealing two bases while getting on base in four of her five plate appearances. Another player making a difference was Lyla Mahan, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, Hilltop had already proven themselves in the regular season and they didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. They won by a run and slipped past Edgerton 5-4.
Like Montpelier, Hilltop also got a great game from a two-way player: Giada Rising. She looked comfortable on the mound, pitching five innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits. Rising was also big at the plate, scoring a run while going 1-for-5.
In other batting news, Halle Jones was incredible, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 3-for-6. Shealyn Brown was another key contributor, going 3-for-6 with two RBI.
Montpelier has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won ten of their last 11 games, which provided a massive bump to their 16-7 record this season. As for Hilltop, their victory was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 23-5.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Friday. Montpelier hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.5 home runs per game. However, it's not like Hilltop struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.7. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Montpelier came up short against Hilltop in their previous matchup back in April, falling 6-1. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Hilltop's Kelsy Connolly, who struck out 11 batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned run off six hits. Now that Montpelier knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
