The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes will venture away from home to challenge the Mater Dei Knights at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Teutopolis came out on top against Paris on Thursday thanks in part to the team's impressive four-run fifth inning. The Wooden Shoes' pitcher stepped up to hand the Tigers a 7-0 shutout. The Wooden Shoes not only won on Thursday, but they posted their biggest win since April 14th (when they won 12-0).
The result came thanks to Alyssa Tipton's shutout, as she gave up just three hits and racked up 17 Ks.
On the hitting side, Malea Helmink was a standout: she went 2-for-4 with two runs, two RBI, and one double. Kayleigh Zerrusen was another key player, going 3-for-4 with one run, one double, and one RBI.
They weren't the only ones making solid contact: Teutopolis kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 14 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least eight hits in four consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Mater Dei won against Flora on Saturday with ten runs and they decided to stick to that run total again on Wednesday. The Knights put the hurt on Gibault Catholic with a sharp 10-0 win. The Knights haven't had any issues with the Hawks recently, as the game was their sixth consecutive victory against them.
Lexi CayLor tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits while striking out six over five innings pitched. Those six strikeouts gave her a new career-high.
At the plate, Mater Dei got a big performance out of Allyson Willmann, who went 1-for-3 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run. Another player making a difference was Emma Diekemper, who went 2-for-3 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI.
The win got Teutopolis back to even at 9-9. As for Mater Dei, they now have a winning record of 8-7-1.
Teutopolis was able to grind out a solid victory over Mater Dei when the teams last played back in May of 2023, winning 8-3. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Wooden Shoes since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
