Softball Preview: Delta Panthers vs. Montrose Red Hawks
On Thursday Delta will have to hit the road after five straight games at home. They will square off against the Montrose Red Hawks at 2:00 p.m. Montrose took a loss in their last match and will be looking to turn the tables on Delta, who comes in off a win.
Delta's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Wednesday. They blew past Aspen 16-0. Considering the Panthers have won seven matchups by more than five runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.
Jazlyn Naranjo made a big impact no matter where she played. On the mound, she pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. Naranjo was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring three runs and stealing two bases while going 2-for-2.
In other batting news, Velma Baily and Olivia Hines did most of the damage at the plate: Baily scored three runs and stole three bases while getting on base in all three of her plate appearances, while Hines went 3-for-3 with three RBI, two runs, and a triple. Another player making a difference was Mya Abeyta, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Delta was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .632. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .316 or higher in 17 consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Montrose was not able to break out of their rough patch on Monday as the team picked up their fourth straight defeat. They fell 11-6 to Palisade.
Montrose saw seven different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Cali Fulks, who went 4-for-4 with three runs, three doubles, and an RBI. The dominant performance also gave Fulks a new career-high in hits. Another player making a difference was Maddison Coca, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-4.
Delta has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a massive bump to their 13-9 record this season. As for Montrose, their loss dropped their record down to 7-14.
Montrose's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Delta has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 11.7 hits per game. It's a different story for Montrose, though, as they've been averaging 8.7. Given Delta's sizable advantage in that area, Montrose will need to find a way to close that gap.
Delta took their victory against Montrose when the teams last played back in September by a conclusive 9-3. The rematch might be a little tougher for Delta since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
