The Gainesville Hurricanes will face off against the Newberry Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Gainesville is headed into the contest having just posted their closest victory since March 28, 2024 on Tuesday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Columbia, sneaking past 2-1.
McKenna O'Sullivan spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned run on nine hits. She has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive appearances.
At the plate, Gainesville saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Lana Renicks, who went 3-for-4 with one RBI. That's the most hits Renicks has posted since back in February.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Newberry). Their pitcher stepped up to hand Eastside a 16-0 shutout on Thursday. The win continues a trend for the Panthers in their matchups with the Rams: they've now won nine in a row.
Gracie Mattson made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, she struck out eight batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off three hits. Mattson was also solid in the batter's box, getting on base in all three of her plate appearances with three runs and one RBI.
In other batting news, Aubrey Mattson was a standout: she went a perfect 2-for-2 with two stolen bases, two runs, and one RBI. Olivia Tharp was another key player, going 1-for-3 with three RBI, two runs, and one double.
Newberry was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .385. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Eastside only posted a batting average of .250.
Gainesville is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 games. That's provided a massive bump to their 11-7 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.4 runs over those games. As for Newberry, their win bumped their record up to 15-4.
Friday's matchup will be a test for both teams' pitchers. Gainesville hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .313. However, it's not like Newberry struggles in that department as they've averaged .338. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Everything went Gainesville's way against Newberry in their previous meeting on April 2nd, as Gainesville made off with a 13-6 victory. Will the Hurricanes repeat their success, or do the Panthers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
