The Franklin County Eagles will challenge the Salem Spartans at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Franklin County is coming into the match hot, having won their last six games.
Franklin County's pitching crew heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Monday. Everything went their way against Northside as they made off with a 7-0 victory. Considering the Eagles have won 11 contests by more than six runs this season, Monday's blowout was nothing new.
Brooke Weaver made a big impact no matter where she played. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only one hit while striking out seven over seven innings pitched. She has been consistent: she hasn't given up more than one earned run in five consecutive appearances. She was also solid in the batter's box, going a perfect 1-for-1 with one triple, one run, and one RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Becca Merrick, who got on base in three of her four plate appearances with two runs and one triple. Madison Ingram was another key player, going 1-for-3 with three RBI, one run, and one double.
Franklin County hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. The team has now struck out at least five batters in three consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Salem hadn't done well against Blacksburg recently (they were 2-7 in their previous nine matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Tuesday. The Spartans came out on top against the Bruins by a score of 9-4. The Spartans haven't had any issues with the Bruins recently, as the game was their third consecutive win against them.
Salem pushed their record up to 13-4 with the victory, which was their sixth straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.7 runs on average over those games. As for Franklin County, their victory bumped their record up to 14-3.
Everything went Franklin County's way against Salem when the teams last played back in March, as Franklin County made off with a 15-0 win. Will the Eagles repeat their success, or do the Spartans have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
