The Lakewood Cougars will face off against the Meridian Trojans at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Meridian will take on a team with plenty of momentum: Lakewood extended their winning streak to three on Tuesday. Everything went the Cougars' way against Squalicum as they made off with a 17-5 win. With that victory, the Cougars brought their scoring average up to 6.5 runs per game.
Katie Krueger made a splash no matter where she played. On the mound, she struck out eight batters over five innings while giving up just two earned (and three unearned) runs off four hits (and only one walk). She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than one walk in three consecutive appearances. She was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with three runs, two RBI, and one double.
In other batting news, Lakewood got a massive performance out of Cassidy Wolfe, who went 3-for-4 with two runs, one triple, and two RBI. That's the most RBI Wolfe has posted since back in March. Another player making a difference was Karly Stewart, who went 2-for-4 with two runs, one stolen base, and two RBI.
Lakewood kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 17 hits. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Squalicum only managed five hits.
Meridian never got on the board in their matchup on Tuesday, but that sure wasn't the case in their game against Sultan on Wednesday. They put the hurt on the Turks with a sharp 18-7 win. The Trojans haven't had any issues with the Turks recently, as the game was their third consecutive victory against them.
Lakewood's win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-10. Those road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.5 runs on average over those games. As for Meridian, their win bumped their record up to 4-15.
Everything went Lakewood's way against Meridian when the teams last played back in March of 2024, as Lakewood made off with a 10-0 victory. Will the Cougars repeat their success, or do the Trojans have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
