The Central Dragons will venture away from home to square off against the Bellwood-Antis Blue Devils at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Central has struggled recently with five defeats in a row, while Bellwood-Antis will arrive with four straight wins.
Clearfield hit Central with a four-run fifth inning on Monday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Dragons lost 11-1 to the Bison. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last six times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.
Central saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Hailey Fries, who went 1-for-2 with one run.
Meanwhile, Bellwood-Antis never let their opponents score on Monday. They blew past Hollidaysburg 7-0. The result was nothing new for the Blue Devils, who have now won eight contests by seven runs or more so far this season.
Lainey Stinson was a major factor no matter where she played. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits while striking out 19 over seven innings pitched. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than two hits in nine consecutive appearances. She was also stellar in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with one home run and three RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Karlie Sweigart, who got on base in three of her four plate appearances with two runs. Another player making a difference was Abby Clabaugh, who went 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI.
Bellwood-Antis' record now sits at 12-3. As for Central, their loss dropped their record down to 2-12.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Thursday. Central hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.6 home runs per game. However, it's not like Bellwood-Antis struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.5 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Central might still be hurting after the 14-0 defeat they got from Bellwood-Antis in their previous meeting two weeks ago. Can the Dragons avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
