Wharton Hosts Lady Bulls In District Re-match

Bloomingdale (5-7-0, 3-1-0, first place, 6A District 8) will travel to Tampa to play Wharton (6-3-0, 2-2-0, third place, 6A District 8) today at 7pm in a district re-match dating back from February.

The Lady Bulls won the opening match-up at home against the Wildcats in February, 4-2. That win gave them an early edge in the District 8 standings.

Wharton has proven to be a tough team at home with a record of 4-0-0. Bloomingdale continues to struggle on the road winning only one of its previous five road trips.

The Lady Bulls are coming off a huge win against district rival Alonso on Friday, 6-5.

Pitching looks to be the most glaring weakness for the Bulls right now as they have given up 72 runs and a 4.32 ERA.

The Bulls batting have come alive lately. Led by junior center-fielder Jordan Alexander (.441 BA, 12 RBI), Bloomingdale's team BA is .277.

The Wildcats have won four games in a row. Much like Bloomingdale's last opponent, they bring a high-powered offense into tonight's game. Currently, the Wildcats have a batting average of .374 and score just under 10 runs per game. Seven Wharton batters average over .300 while batting 25 or more times.

Among those players are a core of sensational sophomores:

Outfielder, Jordan Brett- .464 BA, 5 RBI

Second basemen, Samantha Heathcoat - .476 BA, 8 RBI

Pitcher / first basemen, Kaitlin Hall - .429 BA, 6 RBI

Wharton also places a very opposing pitching duo made of sophomores Samantha Hathcoat and Kaitlin Hall. On the hill they have combined forces limiting opposing teams to a .217 BA, 2.71 ERA and striking out 39 batters in 41 innings.

Tonight's winner will have an advantage in the tight District 8 race for first place.

Bloomingdale will travel to Gibsonton to play East Bay on Thursday at 7pm.