The Southwood Knights will be staying on the road on Thursday to face off against the West Central Trojans at 6:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Southwood is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Tuesday. They were the clear victor by a 12-4 margin over North White. 12 seems to be a good number for Southwood as the squad scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Natalie Sutphin was a major factor no matter where she played. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run while striking out 17 over seven innings pitched. Sutphin was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with a stolen base.
In other batting news, Grace Snyder was a standout: she scored two runs while going 2-for-3. Another player making a difference was Rowan Goodpasture, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, West Central was not the first on the board on Tuesday, but they got there more often. They put the hurt on North Miami with a sharp 11-2 victory. The win made it back-to-back victories for West Central.
Like Southwood, West Central also got a great game from a two-way player: Jaden Erb. On the mound, she struck out eight batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned runs off five hits (and not a single walk). Erb has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than two walks in five consecutive pitching appearances. Erb was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-4.
In other batting news, Annika Smith was incredible, scoring three runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-3. Mara Sharpe was another key contributor, going 2-for-3 with a triple, a run, and an RBI.
Southwood has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a nice bump to their 19-5 record this season. As for West Central, their record is now 16-6.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Thursday. Southwood 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 West Central struggles in that department as they've been averaging 1.1. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Southwood might still be hurting after the 11-2 defeat they got from West Central in their previous meeting back in May of 2021. Thankfully for Southwood, Emily Pilarski (who struck out 11 batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned runs off three hits) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
