Maryville hasn't had much luck against Heritage recently, but that could start to change on Monday. The Red Rebels will challenge the Mountaineers at 5:30 p.m. Maryville is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.6 runs per game this season.
Maryville fought the good fight in their extra-innings matchup against Alcoa on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Tornadoes by a score of 5-3. That's two games in a row now that the Red Rebels have lost by exactly two runs.
Maryville saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Isabella Saunders, who went 4-for-5 with two runs and one triple. That triple was Saunders' first of the season. Another was Allie Watson, who went 1-for-3 with one double and one RBI.
Meanwhile, Heritage got themselves on the board against Sequoyah on Thursday, but Sequoyah never followed suit. They put the hurt on the Chiefs with a sharp 10-0 win. The Mountaineers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won ten games by eight runs or more this season.
Katelyn Russell made a big impact no matter where she played. On the mound, she kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits over six innings pitched. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up a single earned run in three consecutive appearances. She was also big at the plate, going 3-for-4 with one home run and three RBI. Those three hits gave her a new career-high.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Brooke Gennoe, who went 2-for-3 with four RBI, one run, and one double. Those four RBI gave her a new career-high. Autumn Brooke Perrin was another key player, getting on base in three of her four plate appearances with two runs and one double.
Heritage always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .528. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Sequoyah only posted an OBP of .150.
Heritage is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last nine contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 18-7 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games. As for Maryville, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 11-9.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Monday. Maryville hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.7 home runs per game. However, it's not like Heritage 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.
Maryville beat Heritage 8-3 in their previous meeting back in March. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Red Rebels since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
