The Lakota East Thunderhawks will challenge the Little Miami Panthers at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Little Miami will be up against a hot Lakota East team: the squad just extended their winning streak to seven. The Thunderhawks' pitcher stepped up to hand Sycamore an 11-0 shutout on Thursday.
Kaleigh Crawford was a major factor while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits while striking out seven over six innings pitched. She has been consistent: she hasn't given up more than one earned run in eight consecutive appearances. She was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-4 with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI.
In other batting news, Amber Munoz was incredible, going 2-for-4 with one home run, two runs, and two RBI. That's the most hits she has posted since back in April. Abrie Shulte was another key player, going 3-for-4 with one run.
Lakota East kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 13 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least eight hits in seven consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Little Miami, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Friday. Everything went their way against Walnut Hills on Tuesday as they made off with a 16-1 victory. The Panthers haven't had any issues with the Eagles recently, as the game was their eighth consecutive win against them.
Like Lakota East, Little Miami also got a great game from a two-way player: Langley Lundt. On the mound, she didn't allow a single earned run while striking out seven over 4.1 innings pitched. With that strong performance, Lundt is now averaging an impressive 5.1 strikeouts per game. She was also big at the plate, going a perfect 3-for-3 with five RBI.
In other batting news, Little Miami got a big performance out of Bella Houillion, who went 1-for-2 with two runs, two RBI, and one double. Another player making a difference was Grace Young, who got on base in all three of her plate appearances with two stolen bases and two runs.
Lakota East pushed their record up to 15-7 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. The road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.3 runs over those games. As for Little Miami, their victory bumped their record up to 17-8.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Friday. Lakota East hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.5 home runs per game. However, it's not like Little Miami struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.8 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Everything went Lakota East's way against Little Miami when the teams last played back in May of 2019, as Lakota East made off with a 10-0 win. Do the Thunderhawks have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Panthers turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
