Softball Recap: Make It Five in a Row for Grant Park

Dragons

Previous 5 Games

04/23/25 @ Watseka	14-4
04/15/25 vs Momence	10-0
04/11/25 vs Watseka	9-5
04/10/25 @ Donovan	13-7
04/10/25 @ Donovan	13-0

Grant Park waltzed into their contest on Wednesday with four straight wins... but they left with five. Everything went their way against the Watseka Warriors as they made off with a 14-4 victory. That's two games straight that the Dragons have won by exactly ten runs.

Cheyenne Hayes made a big impact no matter where she played. On the mound, she struck out 15 batters over seven innings while giving up four earned runs off six hits (and only one walk). She has been consistent: she hasn't tossed less than eight strikeouts in five consecutive appearances. She was also stellar in the batter's box, going a perfect 5-for-5 with one home run and four RBI. Those five hits gave her a new career-high.

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Claire Sluis, who went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, four RBI, and two runs. That's the most stolen bases she has posted since back in April of 2024. The team also got some help courtesy of Ava Desiderio, who went 1-for-3 with three stolen bases, two RBI, and one run.

Grant Park kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 12 hits. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 5 hits per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 matches they've averaged 9.

Grant Park's win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 8-5. Those road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.0 runs on average over those games. As for Watseka, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 2-10.

Coming up, Grant Park will square off against Peotone at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The Blue Devils' pitching crew has only allowed 3.1 runs per game this season, so the Dragons' hitters will have their work cut out for them. As for Watseka, they will challenge Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The Warriors' pitchers better be ready for this one: the Blue Devils have averaged an impressive 7.7 runs per game this season.