The Hamilton County Foxes will face off against the Anna-Jonesboro Wildcats at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Hamilton County comes in on five and Anna-Jonesboro on eight.
Hamilton County is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Monday. They came out on top against Fairfield by a score of 4-1. Four seems to be a good number for the Foxes as the team scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Kelsie Ashcraft was incredible, going a perfect 1-for-1 with one home run, two runs, and two RBI.
Meanwhile, Anna-Jonesboro never let their opponents score on Wednesday. They put the hurt on Trico with a sharp 15-0 victory. The Wildcats might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 24 matches by six runs or more this season.
Ruby Yates was a major factor while hitting and pitching. On the mound, she struck out seven batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and only one walk). She has been consistent for a while: she hasn't given up more than two walks in 21 consecutive appearances. She was also stellar in the batter's box, going a perfect 3-for-3 with one home run, four RBI, and one double.
In other batting news, Kansas Craig and Jayci Needling did most of the damage at the plate: Craig got on base in all four of her plate appearances with one home run and three runs, while Needling went 1-for-3 with one home run, four RBI, and two runs. Craig is on a roll when it comes to home runs, as she's now launched at least one in each of the last three games she's played. Another player making a difference was Molly Roach, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with two runs, one double, and one RBI.
Anna-Jonesboro was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .571. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .333 or higher in 13 consecutive contests.
Anna-Jonesboro pushed their record up to 26-3 with the win, which was their seventh straight at home. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.3 runs on average over those games. As for Hamilton County, their win bumped their record up to 17-15.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Tuesday. Hamilton County hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.7 home runs per game. However, it's not like Anna-Jonesboro struggles in that department as they've been averaging 2.2 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Hamilton County came up short against Anna-Jonesboro in their previous meeting back in March, falling 10-6. Can the Foxes avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
