The Irvine Vaqueros will face off against the Highland Bulldogs at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Irvine is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Thursday. They never let Flintridge Sacred Heart get on the board and left with an 11-0 victory. Winning may never get old, but the Vaqueros sure are getting used to it with their third in a row.
Midori De Los Santos made a splash no matter where she played. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits over five innings pitched. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than two hits in three consecutive appearances. She was also solid in the batter's box, going a perfect 4-for-4 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI. Those four hits gave her a new career-high.
Abby Sasaki
| 05/15/25 vs Flintridge Sacred Heart | 6 |
| 03/23/24 vs Mater Dei | 5 |
| 04/23/25 @ University | 4 |
| 03/20/25 @ Northwood | 4 |
| 03/18/24 vs University | 4 |
In other batting news, Irvine got a massive performance out of Abby Sasaki, who went 2-for-4 with one home run, six RBI, and one double. Those six RBI gave Sasaki a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Reese Villanueva, who went 2-for-3 with one home run, two runs, and one stolen base.
Meanwhile, Highland made easy work of Rowland on Thursday and carried off a 9-1 win. The result was nothing new for the Bulldogs, who have now won 11 matches by six runs or more so far this season.
Like Irvine, Highland also got a great game from a two-way player: Paisley Memory. She didn't allow a single earned run over five innings pitched. Memory was also big at the plate, going 1-for-3 with one double and one RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Evalina Chavez, who fired off two home runs and five RBI while going 3-for-4. Another player making a difference was Aubrey Reyes, who went a perfect 4-for-4 with one run, one double, and one RBI.
Highland kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 18 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least eight hits in four consecutive contests.
Highland has been performing well recently as they've won 11 of their last 13 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 18-8 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.5 runs on average over those games. As for Irvine, their win was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-16.
