Softball Game Preview: Patriot Warriors vs. Kaiser Cats

The Patriot Warriors will challenge the Kaiser Cats at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.

Patriot is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Thursday. They came out on top against Buena Park by a score of 4-1. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Warriors.

Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Kaiser). Everything went their way against Santiago on Thursday as they made off with a 14-1 win. The team's explosion at the plate also rewarded the Cats with their most commanding win of the season.

Vanessa Contreras made a splash while hitting and pitching. She struck out six batters over 3.2 innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. That's the most strikeouts she has posted since back in April. She was also big at the plate, going 3-for-4 with one double.

In other batting news, Kaiser got a massive performance out of Aubriana Espinoza, who went 2-for-3 with one triple, one stolen base, and two RBI. That triple marked the first that Espinoza has hit this season. Aaliyah Davis was another key player, going 2-for-3 with one home run, three RBI, and two runs.

Patriot's victory was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 17-8. Those home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 12.1 runs over those games. As for Kaiser, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games. That's provided a nice bump to their 11-16 record this season.

Patriot couldn't quite get it done against Kaiser in their previous matchup back in March of 2016 as they fell 7-4. Can the Warriors avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.