The Gardner-South Wilmington Panthers will face off against the St. Anne Cardinals at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The timing is sure in Gardner-South Wilmington's favor as the squad sits on three straight wins at home while St. Anne has been banged up by 22 consecutive losses on the road dating back to last season.
Gardner-South Wilmington is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. Everything went their way against Donovan on Thursday as they made off with a 19-1 victory. Considering the Panthers have won nine contests by more than five runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
Maddie Simms
| 05/08/25 @ Donovan | 1 |
| 05/06/25 vs Donovan | 1 |
| 05/05/25 vs Lexington | 1 |
Maddie Simms made a big impact no matter where she played. She didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out eight over four innings pitched. She has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up more than one hit in three consecutive appearances. She was also big at the plate, firing off two home runs and five RBI while going 3-for-3. That's the most RBI she has posted since back in May of 2024.
In other batting news, Ella Mack was a standout: she went 3-for-4 with three runs, two doubles, and one triple. That's the most hits she has posted since back in April. The team also got some help courtesy of Lily Buck, who got on base in three of her four plate appearances with three runs, one triple, and one RBI.
Gardner-South Wilmington always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .600. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Donovan only posted an OBP of .333.
St. Anne couldn't beat Iroquois West on Thursday even though they stacked six runs on them in the second inning. The Cardinals fell just short of the Raiders by a score of 12-11. Even if the Cardinals couldn't come away with the win, the high-scoring effort was a great turnaround for their hitters, which had struggled int the games prior.
Gardner-South Wilmington has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matches. That's provided a massive bump to their 17-9 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.4 runs on average over those games. As for St. Anne, their loss dropped their record down to 2-14.
Gardner-South Wilmington took their win against St. Anne when the teams last played back in April by a conclusive 18-3 score. Do the Panthers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Cardinals turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
