The Illiana Christian Vikings will head out on the road to square off against the Bradley-Bourbonnais Boilermakers at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Bradley-Bourbonnais is hoping to do on Saturday what Crown Point couldn't on Friday: put an end to Illiana Christian's winning streak, which now stands at four games. Illiana Christian won by a run and slipped past Crown Point 3-2.
Mikayla Derks spent all ten innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on seven hits and racked up seven Ks. She has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Maya Wondaal, who got on base in three of her five plate appearances with a home run, a stolen base, and two RBI.
Meanwhile, Bradley-Bourbonnais stacked a 12th blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Friday. They put the hurt on Kankakee with a sharp 14-0 win. The high-scoring effort was just what Bradley-Bourbonnais needed considering they were shutout in their previous contest.
Libby Spaulding made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, she didn't allow a single earned run and only one hit while striking out ten over five innings pitched. Spaulding was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while going 2-for-3.
In other batting news, Suttyn Hop was a standout: she scored two runs and stole a base while going 3-for-3. Another player making a difference was Bella Pusateri, who went 3-for-4 with three runs and a triple.
Illiana Christian's victory was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 18-3. As for Bradley-Bourbonnais, their win ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 22-10.
Both both teams just can't seem to miss. Illiana Christian has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 9.5 hits per game. However, it's not like Bradley-Bourbonnais struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 5.1. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Illiana Christian came up short against Bradley-Bourbonnais in their previous matchup back in May of 2023, falling 5-0. Can Illiana Christian avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
