The Signal Mountain Eagles will venture away from home to face off against the Girls Prep Bruisers at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams are strolling into their matches after big wins in their previous games.
Signal Mountain is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. Their pitcher stepped up to hand East Ridge a 27-0 shutout on Thursday. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for the Eagles considering their one-run performance the contest before.
May Collier was a major factor while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, tossing three innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive appearances. She was even better at the plate, going 3-for-4 with one home run, six RBI, and three runs. Those three runs gave her a new career-high.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Berkley Roddy, who scored three runs and stole a base while going 1-for-2. Emilia Brauer was another key player, going a perfect 2-for-2 with one home run and two RBI.
Signal Mountain kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 19 hits. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 5.2 hits per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 games they've averaged 9.4.
Meanwhile, Girls Prep came tearing into Thursday's matchup with six straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8.7 runs), and they left with even more momentum. They were the clear victors by a 14-2 margin over the Fighting Irish. Considering the Bruisers have won nine contests by more than five runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
Bailey Long was incredible, going 2-for-3 with one home run and five RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Jayla Gladden, who scored two runs while getting on base in three of her four plate appearances.
Girls Prep pushed their record up to 14-4 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Signal Mountain, their record is now 4-7.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Friday. Signal Mountain 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 Girls Prep struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.7 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Signal Mountain suffered a grim 14-2 defeat to Girls Prep in their previous matchup back in March. Can the Eagles avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
