Baseball Game Preview: Odyssey Institute Minotaur vs. ALA - West Foothills Guardians

The Odyssey Institute Minotaur will take on the ALA - West Foothills Guardians at 3:45 p.m. on Monday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.

Odyssey Institute's pitching crew heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They came out on top against Highland Prep by a score of 13-0 (the very same score they lost by in their prior game). The high-scoring effort was just what the Minotaur needed considering they were shut out in their previous game.

Justin Bennett

Runs

04/11/25 @ Highland Prep	2
03/31/25 vs Chino Valley	2
03/12/25 @ Winslow	2
03/04/25 @ Highland Prep	1
03/01/25 @ Shadow Mountain	1

Justin Bennett made a splash no matter where he played. He looked comfortable on the mound, striking out seven batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and not a single walk). Those seven strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs and stealing two bases while going 1-for-2. He is becoming a predictor of Odyssey Institute's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is undefeated (and 3-6-1 when he doesn't).

In other batting news, Jonathan Gonzales was a standout: he scored a run and stole two bases while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances. Another player making a difference was Nick DePaz, who scored three runs and stole two bases while getting on base in all three of his plate appearances.

Meanwhile, there's no place like home for ALA - West Foothills, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Parker with a sharp 14-1 victory on Friday. Considering the Guardians have won six contests by more than six runs this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.

ALA - West Foothills let Lucas Brittan and Jaxson Garvey run wild. Brittan went 2-for-3 with four RBI and one run, while Garvey scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3. Troy Espinosa was another key player, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 1-for-2.

ALA - West Foothills was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .480. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Parker only posted a batting average of .118.

ALA - West Foothills is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 13-6 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.5 runs over those games. As for Odyssey Institute, the victory got them back to even at 6-6-1.