The Hamshire-Fannett Longhorns will head out on the road to take on the Shepherd Pirates at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Hamshire-Fannett has struggled recently with four losses in a row, while Shepherd will arrive with four straight wins.
For whatever reason, it's the away team that's had the advantage when Hamshire-Fannett and Hardin-Jefferson meet (two straight games heading into this one) and that held true again on Friday. The Longhorns took a 6-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Hawks.
Jade Hill was a force to be reckoned with on the mound despite the final result: she didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit over 5.2 innings pitched. That's the fewest hits she has allowed since back in February.
On the hitting side, Hamshire-Fannett saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Avery Gallier, who went 3-for-4 with one double.
Meanwhile, Shepherd won against Hardin-Jefferson on Saturday with 16 runs and they decided to stick to that run total again on Thursday. The Pirates put the hurt on Tarkington with a sharp 16-3 victory. The result was nothing new for the Pirates, who have now won 11 matchups by six runs or more so far this season.
Isabelle Hooper made a splash no matter where she played. She looked comfortable on the mound, striking out seven batters over 2.2 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and not a single walk). She has been consistent for a while: she hasn't given up more than two walks in 14 consecutive appearances. She was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs while going 1-for-3.
In other batting news, Shepherd got a massive performance out of Neveah Murphey, who scored two runs and stole a base while getting on base in all five of her plate appearances. Another player making a difference was Chloe Fuller, who scored two runs while getting on base in four of her five plate appearances.
Shepherd always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .525. That was just more of the same: they've now posted an OBP of .525 or higher in three consecutive contests.
Shepherd's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 22-6. Those road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.3 runs on average over those games. As for Hamshire-Fannett, they now have a losing record of 14-15-2.
Hamshire-Fannett was able to grind out a solid win over Shepherd in their previous meeting back in March, winning 5-1. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Longhorns since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
