The Great Bridge Wildcats will face off against the Bayside Marlins at 5:45 p.m. on Friday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Great Bridge comes in on four and Bayside on three.
Great Bridge is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They put the hurt on King's Fork with a sharp 15-5 victory on Thursday. The Wildcats might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won six games by seven runs or more this season.
Jensyn Koonce spent all six innings played on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered four earned (and one unearned) runs on seven hits and racked up ten Ks. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than one walk in three consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Great Bridge let Adelynn Palmer and Cara Lechowicz run wild. Palmer went 2-for-3 with two runs, one triple, and one RBI, while Lechowicz went 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI. Those two hits gave Lechowicz a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Sophie Lessick, who went 3-for-4 with two RBI and one run.
Great Bridge always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .614. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as King's Fork only posted an OBP of .370.
Meanwhile, after only two runs in their last match, Bayside made sure to put some runs up on the board against Salem on Thursday. The Marlins skirted past the Sundevils 10-9. That's two games straight that the Marlins have won by just one run.
Kayleigh Leeland-Powell and Paityn Robinson did most of the damage at the plate: Leeland-Powell went 3-for-4 with four runs and one stolen base, while Robinson went 2-for-3 with three RBI, one triple, and one run. That triple marked the first that Robinson has hit this season. The team also got some help courtesy of Madison Matthews, who went 2-for-4 with two runs, two RBI, and one double.
Great Bridge's win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 12-3. The road victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 11.8 runs over those games. As for Bayside, their win bumped their record up to 8-9.
Great Bridge skirted past Bayside 2-0 when the teams last played back in May of 2024. Do the Wildcats have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Marlins turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
