The North Johnston Panthers will take on the South Johnston Trojans at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
North Johnston is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They fell just short of Fike by a score of 9-8 on Friday.
Reid Willoughby put in work while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out six batters over 3.2 innings while giving up just one earned run off four hits. Those six strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while going 2-for-4.
In other batting news, Maurice Love was cooking despite his team's loss, scoring a run and stealing a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances. What's more, he posted two RBI, the most he's had since back in March of 2024. Seth Scott was another key player, scoring two runs while going 1-for-4.
Meanwhile, South Johnston got themselves on the board against Smithfield-Selma on Tuesday, but Smithfield-Selma never followed suit. They were the clear victor by a 22-0 margin over the Spartans. The Trojans have beaten the Spartans the last five times they've met, but they better watch out: this was the closest the Spartans has come to flipping the script.
The win got South Johnston back to even at 3-3. As for North Johnston, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-2.
North Johnston came out on top in a nail-biter against South Johnston when the teams last played back in March of 2019, sneaking past 4-3. Does North Johnston have another victory up their sleeve, or will South Johnston turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
