Baseball Game Preview: Westmont Hilltop Hilltoppers vs. River Valley Panthers

The Westmont Hilltop Hilltoppers will challenge the River Valley Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Westmont Hilltop will aim to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each match than the last.

Westmont Hilltop is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They blew past Greater Johnstown 14-4 on Tuesday. The Hilltoppers haven't had any issues with the Trojans recently, as the game was their eighth consecutive victory against them.

Justin Ray

Hits (Career)

04/01/25 vs Greater Johnstown	3
05/03/24 @ Bishop McCort	2
04/10/24 vs Forest Hills	2
03/25/25 vs Somerset	1
03/18/25 @ Central Cambria	1

Brady Gartner and Justin Ray made a splash while hitting and pitching. Throwing, Gartner tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Meanwhile, Ray tossed four innings while giving up three earned (and one unearned) runs off four hits. Gartner has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than one walk in three consecutive appearances. At bat, Gartner went 3-for-4 with one RBI, while Ray went 3-for-4 with two RBI. Those three hits gave Ray a new career-high.

In other batting news, Westmont Hilltop got a massive performance out of Bryce Goodman, who scored two runs while going 3-for-4. Dominic Chiodo was another key player, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-3.

Westmont Hilltop always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .553. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Greater Johnstown only posted an OBP of .333.

Meanwhile, River Valley was not able to break out of their rough patch on Wednesday as the team picked up their ninth straight loss dating back to last season. They fell 11-8 to Homer-Center. The game snapped a strange streak: the last four times these teams have met, it?s been the away team that?s taken home the W.

The win got Westmont Hilltop back to even at 2-2. As for River Valley, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-6.