Softball Game Preview: Waterloo Bulldogs vs. Gibault Catholic Hawks

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Previous 5 Games

04/11/24 - Home	15-0 W
04/13/23 - Away	15-0 W
05/06/21 - Home	18-3 W
04/12/18 - Home	12-0 W
04/13/17 - Home	9-2 W

Waterloo has gone a perfect 5-0 against Gibault Catholic recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Thursday. The Bulldogs will square off against the Hawks at 4:30 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Waterloo has six straight victories, Gibault Catholic has four straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.

Waterloo's pitching crew heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Monday. They walked away with a 3-0 win over Jersey.

The result came thanks to Aidan Dintelman's shutout, as she gave up just two hits and racked up seven Ks. She has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't given up more than two walks in 13 consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, Waterloo's victory was truly a team effort as six different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Grayce Mayer, who went 1-for-3 with one run.

Meanwhile, Gibault Catholic didn't have quite enough to beat Trico on Monday and fell 7-6.

Molly Steibel was cooking despite her team's loss, going 1-for-3 with two runs and one RBI. Another was Kylie Edwin, who went 2-for-4 with one run and one RBI.

Waterloo's win was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 12-2. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.8 runs on average over those games. As for Gibault Catholic, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-10.

Gibault Catholic's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Waterloo has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 10.8 hits per game. It's a different story for Gibault Catholic, though, as they've been averaging 10.1 hits. Given Waterloo's sizable advantage in that area, the Hawks will need to find a way to close that gap.

Waterloo took their win against Gibault Catholic in their previous meeting back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 15-0 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Bulldogs since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.