The Southland Rebels will square off against the Hayfield Vikings at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Southland's pitching crew heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Thursday. They were the clear victors by a 17-0 margin over Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons. The Rebels haven't had any issues with Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons recently, as the game was their seventh consecutive victory against them.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Hayfield, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. Everything went their way against Triton on Thursday as they made off with a 12-2 win. The high-scoring effort was just what the Vikings needed considering they were shut out in their previous game.
Hayfield got a great performance from Elaina Masching as she didn't allow a single earned run over five innings pitched.
On the hitting side, Kenna Rutledge was a standout: she went 3-for-4 with four runs, three doubles, and two RBI. Another player making a difference was Ella Bamlet, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with two runs, two doubles, and one triple.
Hayfield kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 17 hits. That's the most hits they've posted since back in April of 2024.
Hayfield pushed their record up to 6-4 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.7 runs on average over those games. As for Southland, their victory bumped their record up to 11-2.
Southland was able to grind out a solid win over Hayfield in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, winning 6-1. Will the Rebels repeat their success, or do the Vikings have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
