Softball Game Preview: Canyon Hills Rattlers vs. University City Centurions

The Canyon Hills Rattlers are taking a road trip to square off against the University City Centurions at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. Canyon Hills' pitching crew has only allowed 2.4 runs per game this season, so University City's hitters will have their work cut out for them.

Canyon Hills proved they can win big on Thursday (they won by nine) and on Tuesday they proved they can win the close ones too. They had just enough and edged out Clairemont 3-2.

Natalye Debus

Batters Struck Out

05/06/25 @ Clairemont	10
05/01/25 vs Madison	11
04/29/25 vs Mira Mesa	10
04/24/25 vs Scripps Ranch	11
04/22/25 vs University City	11
+ 12 more games

Natalye Debus spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned (and one unearned) run on three hits and racked up ten Ks. She has been consistent for a while: she hasn't tossed less than seven strikeouts in 17 consecutive appearances.

On the hitting side, Canyon Hills saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Zorah Shoate, who went 2-for-3 with one RBI.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for University City, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Thursday. They walked away with a 5-1 win over Mira Mesa on Tuesday.

University City also let their pitcher toss all seven innings and she was also dialed-in: Aliyah Padilla gave up only one earned run on four hits and racked up six Ks.

At the plate, the team relied heavily on Alyssa Castillo, who went 1-for-3 with one triple, one run, and one RBI. Audrey Forde also deserves some recognition as she hit her first triple of the season.

Canyon Hills' victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 14-7. The road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.3 runs over those games. As for University City, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games. That's provided a nice bump to their 8-14-1 record this season.

Canyon Hills beat University City 4-0 in their previous meeting two weeks ago. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Rattlers since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.