Cibola and Desert Vista are an even 3-3 against one another since April of 2017, but likely not for long. Cibola will look to defend their home field on Friday against Desert Vista at 3:45 p.m. Cibola will aim to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each match than the last.
On Thursday, Cibola made easy work of Rincon/University and carried off an 18-2 win. Considering the Raiders have won five contests by more than five runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
Eliana Corea made a splash while hitting and pitching. She pitched 4.2 innings while giving up just two earned runs off five hits. She has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive appearances. She was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while going 2-for-4. The dominant performance also gave her a new career-high in RBI (two).
Stephanie Garcia
| 03/27/25 vs Rincon/University | 3 |
| 03/19/25 @ San Luis | 2 |
| 03/17/25 vs San Luis | 2 |
| 03/11/25 @ Estrella Foothills | 2 |
| 03/25/24 @ Boulder Creek | 2 |
In other batting news, Cibola let Cameron Kasid and Stephanie Garcia run wild. Kasid scored two runs while going 2-for-2, while Garcia scored three runs while going 3-for-3. Those three runs gave Garcia a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Angelica Arellano, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-3.
Cibola was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .606. They are 5-1 when they post a batting average of .375 or better.
Meanwhile, Desert Vista got themselves on the board against Millennium on Wednesday, but Millennium never followed suit. They walked away with a 5-0 victory over the Tigers. The win continues a trend for the Thunder in their matchups with the Tigers: they've now won three in a row.
Not much got past Zhalia Asi, who gave up just five hits and racked up seven Ks to keep Millennium off the board.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Takoah Jones, who went 3-for-4 with one home run and three RBI. That home run marked the first that she launched this season.
Cibola has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games. That's provided a massive bump to their 6-10 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.6 runs on average over those games. Desert Vista's win bumped their record up to 13-2.
Friday's match will be a test for both teams' pitchers. Cibola hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .371. However, it's not like Desert Vista struggles in that department as they've averaged .557. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Cibola came up short against Desert Vista in their previous meeting back in February of 2024, falling 4-0. Can Cibola avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
