The Glory make their first ever trip to New England this weekend. (We did not visit them last year thanks to the non-balanced schedule.)

Both years, we started the season off with a home series against the Riptide, and both times we went 3-1. We also beat them in our only matchup in the championship series last season. Last year, Erica Beach did very well against us, while Jocelyn Forest did not. (We did not face Eileen Canney last year.) This season, we only saw Beach for 2 innings, scoring 4 runs against her. Forest, on the other hand, did pretty well against us this year. She shut us out over 4 innings in her first appearance, then held us to 2 runs over 7 innings in her second, before giving up a 3-run HR to Sara Larquier in the 8th inning. Canney had one good appearance (2 runs over 7 innings in the only Riptide win) and one not-so-good appearance (6 runs in 6 innings).

For the season this year, Canney is doing a great job. She is currently 3rd in the league in strikeouts, tied for 3rd with 11 wins, and 7th in ERA. Forest is their #2 pitcher this season, and is 6-8 with a 3.05 ERA. Beach is 2-7, 3.77.

Leading the Riptide at the plate this year is Jackie Pasquerella, third in the league at .336. They are not a big HR-hitting team, with Jess Merchant leading the team at 6, and no one else with more than 3. Shanel Scott leads in steals (19), with Gina Carbonatto and Carri Martin (formerly Leto-Martin) tied for 2nd with 7. The team is 3rd in the league in average but last in slugging percentage.

This will be the first time we play NE since former Glory player Germaine Fairchild was named their head coach earlier this year. New England is basically tied with Akron for the final playoff spot, so they need to win as many times as Akron beats the Force in their final series. We, on the other hand, need to win at least as often as Chicago beats Rockford. I'm predicting we and Chicago both win 3 out of 4, which will be just enough for our second regular season title.