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Brownstown’s Emily Dillman takes her at-bat during the sectional opener against Southwestern (Hanover).
Dakota Locker | The Tribune
Two hot teams will battle in the second game of the Forest Park Class 2A softball regional Saturday afternoon.
After Cascade (37-2) and North Posey (29-7) play at 11 a.m., Brownstown will put its 18-11 record and 9-game win streak on the line against Eastern Hancock, 26-2 and winners of 10 in a row. That game will start at approximately 1 p.m.
Braves Coach Darren Bryant said, “I know the competition is going to be tough the further you go in the tournament. You expect that.
“If we play our best, I think we can compete with anybody. We’ve got hitting up-and-down our line-up. We’ve proven we can score anywhere in our batting order.”
Both teams played Hauser this season. Eastern beat the Jets 5-2, while the Braves lost to Hauser 3-1 early in the season and beat them 3-1 in the championship game of the Milan Sectional.
Kelsey Schneider pitched a three-hit shutout and had six strike outs in the 7-0 win over Providence in the regional on Tuesday.
She is 9-6 for the season, having pitched 90.2 innings with 93 strike outs and a 3.01 earned run average.
Bryant said, “She’s been throwing the ball harder here later in the year and hitting her spots really well. I know she’s gotten in a few extra pitching lessons late in the season and that really helped sharpen her up a little bit.
“She’s got a lot of confidence right now and is pitching well.”
Rylee May is 9-4 on the mound with 84.2 innings of work, 62 strike outs and a 2.98 ERA.
Schneider and May said they are looking forward to the semi state.
Schneider said, “I’m just looking forward to being there, because we have never been there before. Just being there with my teammates could be a state championship area that we could go to.”
May said she is expecting a solid, good all-around performance from her teammates.
May leads the Braves in hitting at .458, in hits with 44, and in RBIs with 35.
She hit her eighth home run of the season against Providence and holds the career record at Brownstown with 21.
Brooke Meahl and Alex Davidson are next in average with marks of .382. Olivia Justice has 22 RBIs and Kyndle Huddleston has 19.
The Royals have a team batting average of 385 and the Braves are hitting .327 as a team. Eastern averages 9.6 runs per game and the Braves average 6.6
Eastern’s top pitcher is McKenna Stewart, who is 13-1 with 148 strike outs in 88 innings and she has a 1.27 ERA.
Brooklyn Willis leads the Royals in batting at .563, in home runs with 17 and RBIs with 48.
Sammie Bolding is next at .462 and three other Royals are hitting .435 or higher.
Emily Dillman, who has been solid at second base for the Braves this season said, “Our team has been great at not making very many errors in the field.
“I think if we play our game the way we know how to play it will turn out good.”