Little Miami will head out to challenge Springboro at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Little Miami is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7.9 runs per game this season.
Little Miami fell victim to Kings and their airtight pitching crew on Monday. They came up short against the Knights, falling 7-0. The Panthers have struggled against the Knights recently, as the game was their seventh consecutive lost meeting.
Little Miami got a good showing from Langley Lundt, who pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. The dominant performance also gave Lundt a new career-low in walks (zero).
On the hitting side, Little Miami saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Ashleigh Meece, who went 1-for-3 with one double.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Springboro, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Saturday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Miamisburg on Monday, sneaking past 8-7. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last eight times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.
Katie Jonas spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered three earned (and four unearned) runs on nine hits.
At the plate, Vanessa Hornfeck was excellent, going 3-for-4 with two runs. Those three hits gave her a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Leila Kim, who went 1-for-4 with two RBI and one run.
Springboro was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .438. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Miamisburg only posted a batting average of .267.
Springboro is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 12-4 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.0 runs over those games. As for Little Miami, their defeat dropped their record down to 10-5.
Everything went Little Miami's way against Springboro when the teams last played back in March of 2017, as Little Miami made off with a 13-7 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Little Miami since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
