Softball Game Preview: Rancho Mirage Rattlers vs. Orcutt Academy Spartans

The Rancho Mirage Rattlers will face off against the Orcutt Academy Spartans at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Rancho Mirage comes in on seven and Orcutt Academy on six.

Rancho Mirage is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Thursday. They came out on top against Culver City by a score of 9-5. Nine seems to be a good number for the Rattlers as the team scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.

Anelisa Garcia made a splash while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run over 6.2 innings pitched. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive appearances. She was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with one run. That's the most hits she has posted since back in April.

Jezell Espericueta

Runs Batted In (Career)

06/05/25 @ Culver City	6
04/28/25 @ Xavier Prep	4
03/11/25 @ Palm Desert	4
05/06/25 vs Palm Springs	3
04/23/25 @ Palm Springs	3

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Jezell Espericueta, who fired off two home runs, six RBI, and one triple while going 3-for-4. Those six RBI gave her a new career-high. Reyna Vergara was another key player, going a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs, two doubles, and one RBI.

Rancho Mirage always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .571. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Culver City only posted an OBP of .200.

Meanwhile, Orcutt Academy's rock-solid pitchers showed up for the team's fifth consecutive shutout on Thursday. They never let Hueneme get on the board and left with a 10-0 victory.

Orcutt Academy pushed their record up to 17-11-1 with the win, which was their fifth straight at home. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.4 runs on average over those games. As for Rancho Mirage, their win bumped their record up to 21-10.