Helena is 2-8 against Capital since April of 2021 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The Bengals will be playing in front of their home fans against the Bruins at 1:00 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Helena has 11 straight victories, Capital has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Helena is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Montana's top teams: Big Sky, who was ranked 11th at the time (Helena was ranked seventh). The Bengals had just enough and edged out the Eagles 4-3. Four seems to be a good number for the Bengals as the team scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.
Faith Howard
| 05/08/25 @ Big Sky | 11 |
| 05/06/25 vs Butte | 13 |
| 05/03/25 vs Flathead | 15 |
| 05/03/25 vs Glacier | 17 |
| 04/29/25 vs Russell | 13 |
| + 11 more games |
Faith Howard spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered just two earned (and one unearned) runs on six hits and racked up 11 Ks. She has been consistent for a while: she hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in 16 consecutive appearances.
At the plate, Helena saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Leea Turner, who went 1-for-3 with two RBI and one run. That's the most RBI Turner has posted since back in March. Another was Heidi Ricketts, who went 1-for-2 with one double and one RBI.
Meanwhile, Capital came up short against Butte on Thursday, falling 10-1.
Helena pushed their record up to 16-2 with the victory, which was their eighth straight on the road. Those road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.1 runs on average over those games. As for Capital, their defeat dropped their record down to 7-12.
Capital's hitters will have their work cut out for them on Saturday. Helena has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 11.6 strikeouts per game. It's a different story for Capital, though, as they've been averaging only 3.1 strikeouts. Will Helena keep running through batters, or will the Bruins buck the trend?
Helena took their victory against Capital when the teams last played back in April by a conclusive 12-2 score. Will the Bengals repeat their success, or do the Bruins have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
