The Valley Christian Trojans will be taking part in a tournament against the Desert Ridge Jaguars at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Valley Christian is coming into the match hot, having won their last five games dating back to last season.
Valley Christian saw some tournament action on Tuesday. They put the hurt on Westwood with a sharp 8-2 victory. Fans of the Trojans have seen this all before: every one of the games they've played this season has ended in a blowout of 6+ runs.
Berkeley Kaiser was a major factor no matter where he played. On the mound, he tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Kaiser was also solid in the batter's box, scoring two runs and stealing a base while getting on base in two of his four plate appearances.
In other batting news, Valley Christian got a big performance out of Carson Grier, who went 1-for-4 with one home run and two RBI. Baron Smith was another key player, going 1-for-3 with one home run.
Valley Christian hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now struck out at most two strikeouts in four consecutive contests dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Desert Ridge had to endure a five-game losing streak, but that streak is no more. They walked away with an 8-5 win over Marcos de Niza on Tuesday. With that victory, the Jaguars brought their scoring average up to 6.1 runs per game.
Desert Ridge let Mason Gamboa and Kelton Floan run wild. Gamboa went 3-for-5 with one home run, two runs, and one double, while Floan went 1-for-4 with one home run, one stolen base, and two RBI. Gamboa is becoming a predictor of Desert Ridge's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is 2-1 (and 1-5 when he doesn't). The team also got some help courtesy of Nick Snider, who went 1-for-3 with one triple, one run, and one RBI.
Valley Christian's win bumped their record up to 3-0. As for Desert Ridge, their victory bumped their record up to 3-6.
Desert Ridge's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Valley Christian has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 14 hits per game. It's a different story for Desert Ridge, though, as they've been averaging 9.2 hits. Given Valley Christian's sizable advantage in that area, Desert Ridge will need to find a way to close that gap.
Valley Christian skirted past Desert Ridge 8-7 in their previous matchup back in March of 2022. Will Valley Christian repeat their success, or does Desert Ridge have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
