The Anna-Jonesboro Wildcats will face off against the Herrin Tigers at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are strolling into their games after big wins in their previous games.
Anna-Jonesboro's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Wednesday. They blew past Crab Orchard 10-0. Considering the Wildcats have won 18 matchups by more than five runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.
Not much got past Ruby Yates, who gave up just five hits and racked up nine Ks to keep Crab Orchard off the board. Yates has been consistent for a while: she hasn't given up more than one walk in 17 consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Anna-Jonesboro let Kansas Craig and Ariana Turner run wild. Craig went 4-for-5 with one home run, two runs, and one double, while Turner went 3-for-4 with one home run and four RBI. That's the most hits Craig has posted since back in March. The team also got some help courtesy of Jayda Shepard, who went 3-for-4 with one run, one double, and one RBI.
Anna-Jonesboro was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .444. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Crab Orchard only posted a batting average of .240.
Herrin never got on the board in their matchup on Monday, but that sure wasn't the case in their game against DuQuoin on Wednesday. They put the hurt on the Indians with a sharp 12-0 victory. The Tigers haven't had any issues with the Indians recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive win against them.
Herrin also got a great performance from Brooke Hudgens as she didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only two hits over five innings pitched.
At the plate, Ryleigh Coffey was incredible, going 1-for-2 with three RBI, two runs, and one double. Reese Elliott was another key player, going 1-for-2 with two RBI and one run.
The victory made it two in a row for Anna-Jonesboro and bumps their season record up to 20-3. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered a grand total of 2 run in those games. As for Herrin, their victory bumped their record up to 10-11.
Herrin's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Anna-Jonesboro has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 11.1 hits per game. It's a different story for Herrin, though, as they've been averaging 10 hits. Given Anna-Jonesboro's sizable advantage in that area, the Tigers will need to find a way to close that gap.
Anna-Jonesboro took their win against Herrin in their previous meeting back in March by a conclusive 18-6 score. Do the Wildcats have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Tigers turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
