The Columbus Wildcats (5-2, 4-0) softball team looks to continue their undefeated start to Southeast Iowa Super Conference play as they travel to take on North division rivals, the Lone Tree Lions (3-3, 2-3).
Both teams are coming off of conference victories a night ago, when the Lions handled the Highland Huskies in Riverside 11-6 and the Wildcats survived an extra-innings thriller against Hillcrest, walking the Ravens off in a 13-12 shootout.
Despite just being a couple of weeks into the season, the Wildcats will be looking to match their conference win total from a year ago, when Columbus went 5-10. A healthy season for star slugger Lily Coil has been a major factor, as the senior has already clubbed three home runs and leads class 2A in runs batted in with 18 as of Thursday afternoon. In the circle, it’s been junior Kennedy Woepking getting it done, who held a 1.11 ERA and 24 strikeouts in her first 19 innings of work heading into Thursday’s game.
Defense has been the primary weakness for Columbus so far this season, with 24 team errors leaving the Wildcats with an .841 fielding percentage as of Thursday.
For Lone Tree, senior Rylee Shield has led the way offensively with a .417 batting average and five hits, while 8th grader Adi Parizek has made the most of limited opportunities, knocking in a team-high three runs on two hits in just three at-bats.
On paper, Lone Tree has struggled to find success in the circle, with a team WHIP of 2.09 and a team ERA of 7.74. The Lions have been better as of late, though, allowing just 3.5 runs per game in their four matchups since a pair of season-opening blowouts at the hands of Louisa-Muscatine.
Lone Tree leads the series 17-12 in the Varsity Bound era, including sweeping the Wildcats in last season’s series.
You can hear tonight’s clash between Columbus and Lone Tree streaming online at KCIIRadio.com on the KCII3 Stream and the KCII3 App, beginning with pregame coverage at 5 p.m., and first pitch between the Wildcats and Lions to follow at 5:30 from Lone Tree High School.