The Centennial Hawks will face off against the Carlsbad Cavemen/Cavegirls at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Centennial is currently enjoying a perfect season and no doubt wants to keep things rolling.
Centennial is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of New Mexico's top teams: West Mesa, who was ranked 24th at the time (Centennial was ranked second). Centennial blew past West Mesa 21-3 on Saturday. Fans of the Hawks have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout of 6+ runs.
Stevie Jimenez made a big impact no matter where she played. She looked comfortable on the mound, pitching three innings while giving up just two earned (and one unearned) runs off one hit. Jimenez was even better at the plate, scoring three runs while going 2-for-4.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Aaliyah Betancourt, who fired off two home runs, seven RBI, and three runs while going 4-for-4. Another player making a difference was Aubrey Duncan, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with one home run, two runs, and two RBI.
Centennial was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .700. The last time their batting average was this high was back in April of 2024.
For some reason, the away team has come away with the win the last five times Carlsbad and Las Cruces have met, but the home crowd finally got their W on Saturday. Carlsbad came up short against Las Cruces, falling 15-7. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest loss the Cavemen/Cavegirls have suffered against the Bulldawgs since April 14, 2017.
Centennial's victory was their ninth straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 6-0. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Carlsbad, their defeat dropped their record down to 2-2.
Everything went Centennial's way against Carlsbad in their previous meeting back in May of 2024, as Centennial made off with a 20-7 win. Does Centennial have another victory up their sleeve, or will Carlsbad turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
