The Helena Bengals will head out on the road to challenge the Sentinel Spartans at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Helena is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Montana's top teams: Capital, who was ranked 23rd at the time (Helena was ranked ninth). The Bengals blew past the Bruins 12-2 on Tuesday. The match marked the Bengals' most dominant win of the season so far.
Faith Howard spent all five innings played on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on five hits and racked up 11 Ks. She has been consistent: she hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts any time she's pitched this season.
Dakota Lieberg
| 04/15/25 @ Capital | 4 |
| 03/28/25 vs Sentinel | 2 |
| 05/24/24 vs Russell | 2 |
| 05/09/24 @ Hellgate | 2 |
| 04/27/24 vs Skyview | 2 |
At the plate, Kamryn Klemp and Dakota Lieberg did most of the damage at the plate: Klemp went 3-for-4 with five RBI, one triple, and one double, while Lieberg went 2-for-3 with four runs, two stolen bases, and one double. Those four runs gave Lieberg a new career-high. Keira Campbell also deserves some recognition as she snagged her first stolen base of the season.
Helena always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .517. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Capital only posted an OBP of .333.
Meanwhile, Sentinel made easy work of Hellgate on Thursday and carried off an 11-1 victory. The result was nothing new for the Spartans, who have now won five games by ten runs or more so far this season.
Sentinel got a massive performance out of Brooklyn Wright, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with four stolen bases and three runs. The team also got some help courtesy of Nina Samoury, who got on base in all three of her plate appearances with three RBI, two runs, and one double.
Helena's win was their fifth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 6-2. Those road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.2 runs on average over those games. As for Sentinel, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 6-5 record this season.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Tuesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Helena has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 12 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Sentinel struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 8.1 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Helena took their win against Sentinel in their previous matchup back in March by a conclusive 15-7 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Bengals since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
