The Big Sky Eagles will look to defend their home field on Saturday against the Butte Bulldogs at 1:00 p.m. Both teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Big Sky put another one in the bag on Thursday to keep their undefeated season alive. Everything went their way against Flathead as Big Sky made off with a 15-4 victory. Big Sky might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team's won three matchups by eight runs or more this season.
Liberty Rogers looked comfortable as she struck out eight batters over four innings while giving up just two earned runs off four hits.
At the plate, Grace Hood was incredible, firing off two home runs, six RBI, and four runs while going 4-for-4. The team also got some help courtesy of Kyler Latrielle, who scored five runs and stole a base while going 2-for-4.
Meanwhile, Butte had to endure a three-game losing streak, but that streak is no more. They never let Hellgate onto the board and left with a 15-0 win on Friday. With that victory, Butte brought their scoring average up to 6.5 runs per game.
Ashlinn Mullaney was a major factor no matter where she played. She pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (she also didn't allow any walks). Mullaney has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances. Mullaney was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and a double.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Taylor Drakos, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3. Madisyn Swanson was another key contributor, scoring two runs while getting on base in all three of her plate appearances.
Big Sky's win bumped their record up to 5-0-1. As for Butte, their victory (their first of the season) made their record 1-3.
Butte's pitching crew has a tough task ahead of them: Big Sky has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 9.3 hits per game. It's a different story for Butte, though, as they've been averaging 10.5. Given Big Sky's sizable advantage in that area, Butte will need to find a way to close that gap.
Big Sky took their win against Butte in their previous matchup back in April of 2023 by a conclusive 24-16. Will Big Sky repeat their success, or does Butte have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps