The Simi Valley Pioneers will take on the Santa Monica Vikings at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Simi Valley 2.8, Santa Monica 2.1) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Simi Valley's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They walked away with a 3-0 victory over Camarillo. The Pioneers haven't had any issues with the Scorpions recently, as the game was their third consecutive win against them.
Jackson Goshorn tossed a big game, not allowing a single earned run over six innings pitched.
On the hitting side, Simi Valley's victory was truly a team effort as six different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Rowan Schmidt, who went 1-for-3 with one double.
Meanwhile, Santa Monica made easy work of Hawthorne on Thursday and carried off an 18-0 win. The result was nothing new for the Vikings, who have now won eight matchups by six runs or more so far this season.
Santa Monica got a massive performance out of Jackson Myrow, who scored four runs and stole two bases while getting on base in all four of his plate appearances. Those two stolen bases gave Myrow a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Blue Hunter, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with two stolen bases, four RBI, and two runs.
Santa Monica kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 13 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least eight hits in seven consecutive games.
Santa Monica is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 12-5 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.1 runs on average over those games. As for Simi Valley, their win bumped their record up to 10-5.
Saturday's match will be a test for both teams' pitchers. Simi Valley hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .336. However, it's not like Santa Monica struggles in that department as they've averaged .329. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Everything went Simi Valley's way against Santa Monica when the teams last played back in May of 2021, as Simi Valley made off with an 11-1 victory. Do the Pioneers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Vikings turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
