The Neuqua Valley Wildcats will venture away from home to challenge the Plainfield East Bengals at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday. Both come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
For whatever reason, it's the away team that's had the advantage when Neuqua Valley and Naperville North meet (four straight games heading into this one) and that held true again on Wednesday. The Wildcats came out on top against the Huskies by a score of 11-7.
Neuqua Valley got a great performance from Ava Drehs as she struck out 19 batters over 7.1 innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off five hits (and not a single walk). Drehs has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't given up more than two walks any time she's pitched this season.
Tegan Spellerberg
| 04/23/25 @ Naperville North | 3 |
| 04/19/25 vs South Elgin | 2 |
| 04/14/25 vs Metea Valley | 2 |
| 05/07/24 @ Waubonsie Valley | 2 |
| 04/19/24 vs DeKalb | 2 |
On the hitting side, Neuqua Valley let Tegan Spellerberg and Cora Dickson run wild. Spellerberg went 3-for-7 with one home run, two runs, and one stolen base, while Dickson went 4-for-6 with three RBI, two runs, and one stolen base. Those three hits gave Spellerberg a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Nalia Clifford, who went 2-for-6 with two doubles and one run.
Neuqua Valley kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 18 hits. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 4.6 hits per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 games they've averaged 9.6.
Meanwhile, Plainfield East entered their tilt with Romeoville on Thursday with five consecutive wins, and they'll enter their next game with six. Their pitcher stepped up to hand the Spartans a 3-0 shutout. Three seems to be a good number for the Bengals as the team scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.
The result came thanks to Jocelyn Cushard's shutout, as she gave up just a hit and racked up ten Ks.
At the plate, Plainfield East saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Marie Marcum, who went 2-for-3 with one double and one RBI. Corinne Garmon also deserves some recognition as she hit her first triple of the season.
Plainfield East pushed their record up to 11-6 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road. The road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Neuqua Valley, their record now sits at 7-8.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Saturday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Neuqua Valley has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.5 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Plainfield East struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 8.2 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other softball content.
