The New Bern Bears will look to defend their home field on Wednesday against the Jacksonville Cardinals at 6:00 p.m. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with New Bern sitting on five straight victories and Jacksonville on three.
New Bern stacked a fifth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Friday. They blew past Riverside-Durham 9-2.
Molly McGuire made a splash while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, striking out 14 batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off two hits (and only one walk). McGuire has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up more than two walks in five consecutive pitching appearances. McGuire was also big at the plate, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 5-for-5.
In other batting news, Ki?mya Sutton was incredible, scoring two runs and stealing two bases while getting on base in all four of her plate appearances. Makenzie Richardson was another key contributor, scoring two runs while getting on base in two of her five plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Jacksonville scored the most runs they've had all season to find success on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Northside - Jacksonville with a sharp 24-3 win. With that victory, Jacksonville brought their scoring average up to 6.6 runs per game.
Like New Bern, Jacksonville also got a great game from a two-way player: Lauren Weston. On the mound, she struck out six batters over four innings while giving up three earned runs off four hits (and not a single walk). Weston was also stellar in the batter's box, going 5-for-5 with a home run, three RBI, and two doubles.
In other batting news, Jacksonville got a massive performance out of Brittney Weaver, who went 4-for-5 with seven RBI, two runs, and a double. Another player making a difference was Kendall Kellum, who went 2-for-4 with four runs, a triple, and two RBI.
New Bern has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine games, which provided a nice bump to their 11-2 record this season. As for Jacksonville, their win bumped their record up to 5-7.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Wednesday as neither team is afraid to steal. New Bern has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 4.2 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Jacksonville struggles in that department as they've been averaging 2.9. The only question left is which team can snag more.
New Bern came out on top in a nail-biter against Jacksonville when the teams last played back in March, sneaking past 5-3. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Weston, who struck out ten batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned (and four unearned) runs off seven hits (and not a single walk). Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will New Bern still be able to contain Weston? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
