The Brimfield Indians will venture away from home to face off against the Bushnell-Prairie City Spartans at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Brimfield has four straight victories, Bushnell-Prairie City has 27 straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
On Monday, Brimfield was able to grind out a solid win over Ridgewood [AlWood/Cambridge], taking the game 4-1.
Sawyer Drury made a big impact no matter where she played. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run while striking out 15 over seven innings pitched. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than two walks in 11 consecutive appearances. She was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs and stealing two bases while going 1-for-4. That's the most stolen bases she has posted since back in March.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Kendyl Binder, who went 1-for-3 with one triple, one stolen base, and one run. Another player making a difference was Schyer Meinders, who went 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Meanwhile, Bushnell-Prairie City came up short against Macomb on Monday, falling 21-6.
Taylor Lillie was cooking despite her team's loss, scoring a run and stealing two bases while going 1-for-2. The team also got some help courtesy of Kyra Shamblin, who scored a run and stole two bases while going 1-for-3.
Brimfield's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 13-2. The road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Bushnell-Prairie City, their loss dropped their record down to 0-10.
Bushnell-Prairie City's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Brimfield has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 9.1 hits per game. It's a different story for Bushnell-Prairie City, though, as they've been averaging 12.8 hits. Given Brimfield's sizable advantage in that area, the Spartans will need to find a way to close that gap.
Brimfield took their victory against Bushnell-Prairie City in their previous matchup back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 21-0 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Indians since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
