The Lecanto Panthers will head out on the road to challenge the Crystal River Pirates at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Lecanto will head out to face Crystal River after giving up their first home loss of the season on Tuesday. Lecanto came up short against Citrus, falling 10-4. Panthers fans who chose to attend the game sure picked the wrong one: it was the first time the team's lost against the Hurricanes since on Tuesday.
Abigail Males was huge no matter where she played even without the win. She struck out eight batters over six innings while giving up five earned runs off eight hits (and not a single walk). She has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't tossed less than eight strikeouts in five consecutive appearances. She was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with three RBI. That's the most RBI she has posted since back in May of 2024.
Anna Taylor
| 03/18/25 vs Citrus | 2 |
| 03/13/25 vs Dunnellon | 1 |
| 02/22/25 vs South Sumter | 1 |
| 02/18/25 vs Weeki Wachee | 1 |
In other batting news, Anna Taylor made the most of her time at bat despite the final result and scored two runs and stole Two bases. while getting on base in two of her three plate appearances. Those two runs gave her a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Shawna Griffin, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-3.
Meanwhile, Crystal River waltzed into their game on Tuesday with five straight wins... but they left with six. Their pitcher stepped up to hand the Buccaneers a 3-0 shutout.
The result came thanks to Violet Flynn's shutout, as she gave up just three hits and racked up 17 Ks.
At the plate, Crystal River's win was truly a team effort as five different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Kinley Norcross, who scored a run while going 1-for-2.
Crystal River's victory was their ninth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 10-1. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.3 runs on average over those games. As for Lecanto, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 6-8.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Lecanto has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 9.1 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Crystal River struggles in that department as they've been averaging 12.9 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
