The Strasburg-Franklin Tigers will face off against the Conotton Valley Rockets at 5:45 p.m. on Monday.
Garaway hit Strasburg-Franklin with a four-run sixth inning on Friday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Tigers took a 7-4 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Pirates. The Tigers have struggled against the Pirates recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive lost meeting.
Strasburg-Franklin saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Avery Keffer, who went 1-for-3 with one RBI. Brody Baughmam was another, getting on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs.
Meanwhile, while Conotton Valley put up plenty of runs on Friday, the same can't be said for Beallsville. The Rockets blew past the Blue Devils 19-0. Considering the Rockets have won nine contests by more than six runs this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Dylan Higgenbotham made a big impact no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, keeping things locked down with no earned runs or hits over five innings pitched. What's more, he posted five strikeouts, the most he's had since back in April. He was also big at the plate, going 1-for-3 with two runs, two RBI, and one double. He has become a key player for Conotton Valley: the team is undefeated when he posts at least two runs, but 7-8 otherwise.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Kam Wright, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs, one triple, and two RBI. Conotton Valley is undefeated when Wright posts two or more runs, but 5-8 otherwise. The team also got some help courtesy of Zack Putnam, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with two runs, one triple, and one RBI.
Conotton Valley was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .538. They are 8-1 when they post a batting average of .375 or better.
Conotton Valley's victory bumped their record up to 12-8. As for Strasburg-Franklin, they now have a losing record of 10-11.
Strasburg-Franklin took their win against Conotton Valley when the teams last played back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 12-6 score. Will the Tigers repeat their success, or do the Rockets have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
