Softball Recap: Hilltop Drops Highest Score of Season Against Castle Park

Lancers

Team Score (Highest)

04/07/25 vs Castle Park	13
02/28/25 vs Vista	11
03/27/25 vs Holtville	10
03/05/25 vs Canyon Crest Academy	9
03/22/25 @ Sage Creek	6

Winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Hilltop). They blew past the Castle Park Trojans 13-1 on Monday. The Lancers haven't had any issues with the Trojans recently, as the game was their sixth consecutive victory against them.

Maricela 'MJ' Barajas and Olivia Mertz made a splash while hitting and pitching. Throwing, Barajas tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Meanwhile, Mertz tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. The dominant performance also gave her a new career-high in strikeouts (three). At bat, Barajas went a perfect 1-for-1 with one triple, one run, and one RBI, while Mertz went a perfect 1-for-1 with one home run, four RBI, and two runs. That triple marked the first that Barajas hit this season.

In other batting news, Hilltop got a massive performance out of Lexi Martinez, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with two triples and three RBI. Those two triples gave Martinez a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Natalie Wood, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with two runs, one triple, and one RBI.

Hilltop hit smart and finished the game with only one strikeout. The team has now struck out at least five batters in six consecutive games.

Hilltop's win bumped their record up to 5-6-1. As for Castle Park, they are on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 0-3.

Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Hilltop will welcome Sweetwater at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The Red Devils' pitching crew has only allowed 3.7 runs per game this season, so the Lancers' hitters will have their work cut out for them. As for Castle Park, they will have a little extra prep time after the defeat as they won't be playing again for a while. They'll take on San Ysidro at 3:30 p.m. on the 17th.