Softball Game Preview: White Oak Vikings vs. Croatan Cougars

Vikings

Runs

03/14/25 @ Pamlico County	4
03/11/25 vs East Carteret	14
03/07/25 vs North Brunswick	6
03/03/25 vs Jacksonville	7
02/28/25 @ East Carteret	7
+ 2 more games

White Oak is 1-6 against Croatan since March of 2016 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The White Oak Vikings are taking a road trip to square off against the Croatan Cougars at 6:00 p.m. White Oak is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7.7 runs per game this season.

Last Friday, White Oak came up short against Pamlico County and fell 9-4.

Alyssa Carkhuff put in work while hitting and pitching. On the mound, she struck out six batters over six innings while giving up four earned (and five unearned) runs off ten hits (and only one walk). She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than one walk any time she's pitched this season. She was also big at the plate, scoring a run while going 3-for-4.

In other batting news, Avery Sise made the most of her time at bat despite the final result and scored two runs and stole a base while going 3-for-4.

Even though they lost, White Oak hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now struck out at most three strikeouts in three consecutive contests.

Meanwhile, Croatan had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 8.7 runs) and they went ahead and made it four on Wednesday. They came out on top against the Mariners by a score of 7-4. Seven seems to be a good number for the Cougars as the team scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.

Croatan's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 4-1. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.3 runs over those games. As for White Oak, their loss dropped their record down to 4-3.

White Oak might still be hurting after the 13-0 defeat they got from Croatan when the teams last played back in April of 2024. Can White Oak avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.