The Petal Panthers will take on the Brandon Bulldogs at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Petal 3.4, Brandon 3.4) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Petal is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Mississippi's top teams: Sumrall, who was ranked ninth at the time (Petal was ranked seventh). The Panthers fell just short of the Bobcats by a score of 8-7 on Monday. The Panthers have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Morgan Taylor and Taylor Foster did some serious damage despite the final result: Taylor went 2-for-3 with one home run, three RBI, and one double, while Foster went a perfect 3-for-3 with one home run and two RBI. Another player making a difference was Kenzie Cochran, who went 1-for-4 with one home run and two RBI.
Meanwhile, Brandon made easy work of Mendenhall on Friday and carried off a 13-2 victory. Considering the Bulldogs have won ten matches by more than seven runs this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Evie Pickard made a big impact no matter where she played. She tossed six innings while giving up just two earned runs off three hits. Pickard was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while going 1-for-2.
In other batting news, Chloe Jenkins was incredible, going 3-for-5 with one home run, five RBI, and three runs. That's the most hits she has posted since back in March. Lila Harrison was another key player, going 1-for-4 with one home run.
Brandon always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .568. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their OBP total in three consecutive games.
Petal's loss dropped their record down to 16-7. As for Brandon, their win bumped their record up to 17-3.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Tuesday. Petal hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.5 home runs per game. However, it's not like Brandon struggles in that department as they've been averaging 1.1 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Petal came out on top in a nail-biter against Brandon in their previous matchup back in March, sneaking past 6-5. Will the Panthers repeat their success, or do the Bulldogs have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
