Pana is 1-8 against Gillespie since April of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Pana Panthers will head out on the road to face off against the Gillespie Miners at 4:30 p.m. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Pana sitting on three straight victories and Gillespie on six.
On Thursday, it was close, but Pana sidestepped Taylorville for a 5-4 win.
Joey Laker was a major factor no matter where she played. On the mound, she pitched seven innings while giving up four earned runs off nine hits. Laker has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't pitched less than five innings in five consecutive pitching appearances. Laker was also big at the plate, scoring two runs while going 1-for-2.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Shelby Ashcraft, who went 2-for-2 with a triple, two RBI, and a run. Another player making a difference was Bailey Evrley, who went 1-for-3 with a triple and a run.
Meanwhile, Gillespie can now show off 15 landslide victories after their most recent game on Thursday. They blew past Litchfield 17-0. While fans of Gillespie might be used to big wins, the 17-run margin marked the team's biggest one yet.
Pana's victory was their fifth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 17-6. As for Gillespie, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 12 of their last 13 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 20-4 record this season.
Pana came up short against Gillespie in their previous meeting back in April of 2023, falling 6-2. Can Pana avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
