The Lyons Lions will challenge the Oak Park-River Forest Huskies at 4:45 p.m. on Friday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
While Lyons didn't have the best season last year (they finished 10-18), it's starting to look like those struggles are a thing of the past. They walked away with an 8-5 win over Nazareth Academy on Thursday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Lions.
Caylee Wagner tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits over five innings pitched.
On the hitting side, Mary Sandman was excellent, going 2-for-4 with two doubles, one run, and one RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Ava Jacklin, who went 1-for-4 with two runs, one stolen base, and one double.
Lyons hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. The team has now struck out at least five batters in four consecutive games.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Oak Park-River Forest). They put the hurt on York with a sharp 24-17 victory on Wednesday. The Huskies might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won seven contests by seven runs or more this season.
Oak Park-River Forest got a massive performance out of Julia Henderson, who fired off two home runs, five runs, and four RBI while going 4-for-5. Those five runs gave Henderson a new career-high. Charlie Terry was another key player, going a perfect 4-for-4 with one home run, four runs, and three RBI.
Lyons' win bumped their record up to 6-4. As for Oak Park-River Forest, their victory bumped their record up to 13-5.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Friday. Lyons hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.4 home runs per game. However, it's not like Oak Park-River Forest struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.8 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Lyons couldn't quite get it done against Oak Park-River Forest when the teams last played back in May of 2025 as they fell 10-5. Can the Lions avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
