The South Lake Eagles will head out on the road to square off against the Forest Wildcats at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. South Lake will be strutting in after a win while Forest will be coming in after a defeat.
South Lake gave up the first runs on Tuesday, but they didn't let that get them down. They skirted past Tavares 2-1. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Eagles have posted since April 16, 2024.
Zoie Rogers spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned run on eight hits.
At the plate, South Lake's win was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Chloe Stone, who went 2-for-4 with one stolen base and one double.
For some reason, the away team has come away with the win the last four times Forest and Lake Minneola have met, but the home crowd finally got their W on Friday. The Wildcats fell just short of the Hawks by a score of 6-4. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest loss the Wildcats have suffered since March 11th.
Jaiden Prestipino made the most of her time at bat despite the final result and scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-4. Rilynn Fountain was another key player, going 2-for-3 with three RBI and one double.
South Lake has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 9-10 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.3 runs over those games. As for Forest, their defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins and brought them to 10-9.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Thursday. South Lake hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.4 home runs per game. However, it's not like Forest struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 0.7 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
South Lake took their win against Forest when the teams last played back in February by a conclusive 10-4 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Eagles since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
