The Spencerville Bearcats will square off against the Houston Wildcats at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Spencerville has given up an average of 12.8 runs per game this season, but Tuesday's game will give them a chance to turn things around.
Spencerville is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 13 runs on Tuesday, they were much more limited against Crestview on Thursday. They came up short against the Knights, falling 17-2. The Bearcats have struggled against the Knights recently, as the game was their third consecutive lost meeting.
Meanwhile, Houston had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 4 runs) and they went ahead and made it three on Monday. They never let the Trojans get on the board and left with a 13-0 victory. With that win, the Wildcats brought their scoring average up to 6.2 runs per game.
Makenna Vondenhuevel made a big impact while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits while striking out 13 over five innings pitched. She has been consistent for a while: she hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts any time she's pitched this season. She was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with one home run, three runs, and three RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Olivia Maier, who went 2-for-5 with one home run, five RBI, and one double. Those two hits gave her a new career-high. LeeAnna Travis was another key player, getting on base in three of her four plate appearances with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.
Houston always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .513. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their OBP total in three consecutive contests.
Houston pushed their record up to 9-3 with the victory, which was their fifth straight on the road. The road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.8 runs on average over those games. As for Spencerville, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-9.
