Southwestern is 7-0 against Pana since April of 2015, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Tuesday. The Southwestern Piasa Birds will head out on the road to challenge the Pana Panthers at 4:30 p.m. Southwestern is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 8.9 runs per game this season.
Southwestern can't be too worried about heading out to take on Pana: they just beat Calhoun at home, who had been dominant on their own field up to that point. Southwestern's pitcher stepped up to hand Calhoun a 4-0 shutout on Saturday. The win made it back-to-back victories for Southwestern.
The result came thanks to Grace Strohbeck's shutout, as she gave up just one hit. She has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up more than two walks in six consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Southwestern saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Sydney Valdes, who went 1-for-3 with two stolen bases.
Meanwhile, after a string of three wins, Pana's good fortune finally ran out on Friday. They lost 7-1 to Gillespie. Pana has not had much luck with Gillespie recently, as the team's come up short the last three times they've met.
Shelby Ashcraft was huge no matter where she played even without the win. She looked comfortable on the mound, tossing two innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Ashcraft was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with a triple.
Southwestern's victory bumped their record up to 12-9-1. As for Pana, their loss dropped their record down to 16-7.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Tuesday as neither team is afraid to steal. Southwestern has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 2.9 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Pana struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Southwestern skirted past Pana 8-7 when the teams last played back in May of 2023. The rematch might be a little tougher for Southwestern since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
