Baseball Game Preview: Maryvale Panthers vs. Cibola Raiders

The Maryvale Panthers will head out on the road to square off against the Cibola Raiders at 3:45 p.m. on Friday. Maryvale is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 8 runs per game this season.

Maryvale barely beat Independence the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. Maryvale put the hurt on Independence with a sharp 19-6 win on Thursday. The high-scoring effort was just what the Panthers needed considering they were shut out in their previous game.

Christian Valdez

Runs (Career)

03/06/25 vs Independence	3
03/05/24 vs Cesar Chavez	2
02/27/25 vs North	1
02/26/25 vs Westview	1
04/10/24 @ Carl Hayden Community	1

Christian Valdez was incredible, getting on base in all five of his plate appearances with five RBI, three runs, and one triple. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in runs. Daniel Rodriguez was another key player, scoring three runs and stealing Two bases. while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances.

Maryvale always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .700. They are a perfect 3-0 when they post an OBP of .513 or better.

Meanwhile, Cibola came up short against Desert Vista on Thursday, falling 8-1. The defeat continues a trend for the Raiders in their meetings with the Thunder: they've now lost four in a row.

Cibola saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jaxun McNeece, who went 1-for-3 with one home run.

With the victory, Maryvale broke their three-game losing streak and moved their record to 3-3. As for Cibola, their loss dropped their record down to 3-2.