The Huntingdon Bearcats will face off against the Richland Rams at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The timing is sure in Huntingdon's favor as the squad sits on nine straight wins at home (dating back to last season) while Richland has been banged up by three consecutive losses on the road.
Huntingdon will bounce into Friday's contest after beating Philipsburg-Osceola, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. The Bearcats never let the Mountaineers get on the board and left with a 1-0 victory on Thursday. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Bearcats have posted since May 2, 2024.
Not much got past Alivia Nicklow, who gave up just five hits and racked up 12 Ks to keep Philipsburg-Osceola off the board.
On the hitting side, Huntingdon saw six different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Julia Foster, who went 1-for-2 with one run.
The home team had won the previous four meetings between Richland and Somerset, and Richland kept the tradition alive. The Rams had just enough and edged out the Eagles 2-0.
Not much got past Carissa Weld, who gave up just four hits to keep Somerset off the board. Weld has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up a single earned run in three consecutive appearances.
Huntingdon has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six games. That's provided a nice bump to their 12-6 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.3 runs on average over those games. As for Richland, the win got them back to even at 8-8.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Friday. Huntingdon hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.6 home runs per game. However, it's not like Richland 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.
Huntingdon came out on top in a nail-biter against Richland in their previous matchup back in May of 2024, sneaking past 5-3. Do the Bearcats have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Rams turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
