Baseball Game Preview: Shalhevet Firehawks vs. Valley Torah Wolfpack

The Shalhevet Firehawks will head out to face off against the Valley Torah Wolfpack at 2:00 p.m. on Friday. Shalhevet will be strutting in after a victory while Valley Torah will be coming in after a defeat.

Shalhevet will bounce into Friday's game after beating Environmental Charter, who they had gone 1-8 against in their nine prior meetings. The Firehawks came out on top against the White Tigers by a score of 6-1 on Thursday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Firehawks.

Ari Elad made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he tossed seven innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. Shalhevet is 3-1 when Elad allows one or fewer earned runs, but 1-7 otherwise. Elad was also stellar in the batter's box, going 1-for-3 with two stolen bases, two RBI, and one run. That's the most stolen bases he has posted since back in April of 2025.

Yakov Liberman

Stolen Base

03/26/26 @ Environmental Charter	5
03/24/26 vs Animo Leadership	2
05/15/25 @ Webb	1
05/07/25 @ Ambassador	1
05/05/25 @ Wiseburn- Da Vinci	2
+ 3 more games

In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Yakov Liberman, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with five stolen bases and three runs. He has been hot, having posted at least one stolen base the last eight times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Jordan Mathalon, who went 3-for-4 with three RBI and one stolen base.

Meanwhile, Monday just wasn't the day for Valley Torah's offense. They lost 15-0 to Desert Christian last Monday. The loss leaves the Wolfpack still looking for their first win of the season.

Shalhevet's record now sits at 4-8. As for Valley Torah, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-4.

The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Friday as neither team is afraid to steal. Shalhevet has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 4.1 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Valley Torah struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3.8 stolen bases. The only question left is which team can snag more.

Shalhevet got the 'W' in their previous matchup back in May of 2021 against Valley Torah by a conclusive 13-3 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Firehawks since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.