The La Center Wildcats are taking a road trip to square off against the Prairie Falcons at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. La Center is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.9 runs per game this season.
La Center is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They put the hurt on Kalama with a sharp 23-10 win on Thursday. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the team's high-flying offense, the game also marked the team's biggest victory of the season.
La Center got a massive performance out of Lauren Baker, who fired off two home runs, four runs, and five RBI while going 3-for-6. Baker continues to improve, besting her previous run total in each of the last three games she's played. Sadie Schmidt was another key player, going 4-for-6 with one home run, four runs, and four RBI.
La Center always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .538. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Prairie, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. They came out on top against Battle Ground by a score of 6-2 on Wednesday. The win continues a trend for the Falcons in their matchups with the Tigers: they've now won three in a row.
Mackenzie Moore was a major factor while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run while striking out 12 over seven innings pitched. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than one earned run in four consecutive appearances. She was also big at the plate, going 3-for-4 with two runs, two doubles, and one RBI.
Moore wasn't the only one making solid contact as five players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Kayla Scholl, who went 1-for-4 with two RBI. Ashlee Porter also deserves some recognition as she hit her first triple of the season.
Prairie pushed their record up to 7-4 with the victory, which was their fifth straight at home dating back to last season. Those home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.0 runs over those games. As for La Center, their record is now 3-5.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Friday. La Center hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.9 home runs per game. However, it's not like Prairie struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.6 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
La Center came out on top in a nail-biter against Prairie in their previous matchup back in May of 2017, sneaking past 1-0. Will the Wildcats repeat their success, or do the Falcons have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
