Casa Grande and Vintage are an even 5-5 against one another since May of 2021, but likely not for long. The Gauchos will be playing at home against the Crushers at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Casa Grande is coming into the contest hot, having won their last six games.
Casa Grande's pitching crew heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Wednesday. They blew past Justin-Siena 11-0.
Brittony Johnson made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, she didn't allow a single earned run while striking out seven over six innings pitched. Johnson was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and one double. Those two RBI gave her a new career-high.
Haley Learn
| 04/30/25 @ Justin-Siena | 3 |
| 04/21/25 @ Napa | 2 |
| 04/04/25 vs Justin-Siena | 1 |
| 03/25/24 vs Windsor | 1 |
| 03/20/24 vs Sonoma Valley | 1 |
In other batting news, Haley Learn was incredible, going 3-for-4 with one home run, three runs, and three RBI. Those three hits gave her a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Lucy Da Roza, who went 3-for-4 with two runs.
Casa Grande always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .585. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
Meanwhile, Vintage unfortunately witnessed the end of their six-game winning streak on Monday. They fell just short of Pioneer by a score of 3-2.
Like Casa Grande, Vintage also got a great game from a two-way player: Angie Rubalcava. She looked comfortable on the mound, pitching six innings while giving up three earned runs off five hits. Rubalcava was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-4 with one home run and two RBI.
Rubalcava wasn't the only one making solid contact as five players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Malina Viruet, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with one double.
Casa Grande's victory was their seventh straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 16-5-1. The road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.7 runs over those games. As for Vintage, their loss dropped their record down to 13-5.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Friday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Casa Grande has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 9.2 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Vintage struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 8.1 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Casa Grande was able to grind out a solid victory over Vintage in their previous meeting back in April, winning 5-2. Will the Gauchos repeat their success, or do the Crushers have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
