Cranston West is on a four-game streak of home wins, while Prout is on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Falcons will host the Crusaders at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Cranston West is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Rhode Island's top teams: Pilgrim, who was ranked second at the time (Cranston West was ranked fourth). The Falcons blew past the Patriots 12-3 on Monday. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for the Falcons considering their one-run performance the game before.
Mia Crudale spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned (and two unearned) runs on five hits and racked up six Ks.
On the hitting side, Nicole Silvestri was incredible, going a perfect 3-for-3 with one home run, three RBI, and two runs. That's the most hits she has posted since back in April. Payton Wells was another key player, going 1-for-4 with one home run and two RBI.
Cranston West was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .469. They are a perfect 7-0 when they post a batting average of .375 or better.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Prout). They were the clear victors by a 16-6 margin over Ponaganset on Sunday. The Crusaders haven't had any issues with the Chieftains recently, as the game was their fifth consecutive victory against them.
Lily Sheehan was a major factor while hitting and pitching. She struck out six batters over six innings while giving up four earned (and two unearned) runs off nine hits. Sheehan was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI.
In other batting news, Rachel Dias was a standout: she went a perfect 5-for-5 with one home run, five RBI, and two runs. Another player making a difference was Mia Boyajian, who went 3-for-5 with five RBI, three runs, and one stolen base.
Cranston West is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 12-7 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.2 runs on average over those games. As for Prout, their victory bumped their record up to 13-6.
