The Thousand Oaks Lancers will take on the Saugus Centurions at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. Each of these teams will be battling to keep a three-game winning streak alive.
Thousand Oaks' pitching crew heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Thursday. They walked away with a 5-0 victory over Agoura.
The result came thanks to Claire Kirby's shutout, as she gave up just five hits and racked up six Ks. She has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't given up more than one earned run in three consecutive appearances.
At the plate, Thousand Oaks' win was truly a team effort as two different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Olivia LePage, who went 1-for-3 with two RBI and one double.
Meanwhile, it may have taken eight innings to finish the job, but Saugus ultimately got the result they hoped for on Thursday. They had just enough and edged out West Ranch 7-6.
Taliya Mata looked comfortable as she tossed four innings while giving up just two earned runs off four hits.
On the hitting side, Saugus let Amelia Johnson and Savanna Smith run wild. Johnson scored two runs and stole a base while going 3-for-4, while Smith scored two runs and stole Two bases. while going 3-for-4. The dominant performance also gave Johnson a new career-high in doubles (two). Jordan Shepherd was another key player, going 1-for-4 with one home run and three RBI.
Saugus kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 14 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least 14 hits in three consecutive contests.
Thousand Oaks pushed their record up to 8-2 with the victory, which was their fifth straight at home. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.6 runs on average over those games. As for Saugus, their win bumped their record up to 10-2.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Saturday. Thousand Oaks hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.4 home runs per game. However, it's not like Saugus 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.
Thousand Oaks came up short against Saugus in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, falling 3-0. Can Thousand Oaks avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
