The Villa Grove Blue Devils will head out to challenge the St. Joseph-Ogden Spartans at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The two teams are strolling into their matches after big wins in their previous games.
Villa Grove will roll into the game after a wild two-game stretch: they only put up one run on Thursday, then bounced right back against Blue Ridge on Monday. The Blue Devils put the hurt on the Knights with a sharp 10-2 victory. The win continues a trend for the Blue Devils in their matchups with the Knights: they've now won four in a row.
Piper Kiser made a splash while hitting and pitching. She struck out ten batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off six hits. Kiser was also big at the plate, scoring four runs and stealing two bases while getting on base in four of her five plate appearances. What's more, she posted two home runs, the most she's had since back in May of 2024.
Hayden Thomas
| 04/07/25 @ Blue Ridge | 2 |
| 04/03/25 vs Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg | 1 |
| 04/01/25 vs Georgetown-Ridge Farm | 1 |
In other batting news, Villa Grove let Hayden Thomas and Olivia Jones run wild. Thomas scored three runs and stole two bases while going 2-for-2, while Jones went 2-for-4 with four RBI, two doubles, and one run. Thomas has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last three times she's played. Izzy Dodd also deserves some recognition as she snagged her first stolen base of the season.
Meanwhile, St. Joseph-Ogden had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 12.3 runs) and they went ahead and made it four on Monday. They were the clear victors by a 9-2 margin over the Saints. The result was nothing new for the Spartans, who have now won five contests by seven runs or more so far this season.
St. Joseph-Ogden pushed their record up to 6-4 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. Those road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Villa Grove, their record is now 4-2.
Villa Grove suffered a grim 15-4 defeat to St. Joseph-Ogden when the teams last played back in April of 2024. Can the Blue Devils avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
