Softball Game Preview: Hanks Knights vs. Del Valle Conquistadores

The Hanks Knights will face off against the Del Valle Conquistadores at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Neither Hanks nor Del Valle posted many runs in their last games, so it might be the pitching crews that decide this one.

Last Friday, Hanks wound up with the same score they had in their last game (11-1), but sadly the team found themselves on the wrong side of the score this time. They have struggled against the Matadors recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive lost meeting.

Meanwhile, Del Valle waltzed into their game on Tuesday with four straight wins... but they left with five. They never let the Matadors get on the board and left with a 2-0 win. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Conquistadores have posted since February 22nd.

Not much got past Remi Barron, who gave up just four hits and racked up seven Ks to keep Parkland off the board. Barron has been consistent for a while: she hasn't given up more than two walks in 11 consecutive appearances.

At the plate, Del Valle's win was truly a team effort as five different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Andrea Salcedo, who went 2-for-3 with one home run and two RBI.

Del Valle pushed their record up to 15-9-2 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to strikeouts: they averaged an imposing eight strikeouts in those games compared to only 3.26 in the others. As for Hanks, their defeat was their first in the district, dropping their district record down to 2-1 and their overall record down to 13-7-1.

Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Friday. Hanks hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 1 home runs per game. However, it's not like Del Valle struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.8 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down. Come back here after the game to get an analysis of the match and other softball content.