The Sunset Apollos will head out to square off against the Mountainside Mavericks at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. Sunset is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.5 runs per game this season.
Sunset fought the good fight in their extra-innings game against Jesuit on Friday but wound up with a less-than-desirable result. They fell just short of the Crusaders by a score of 3-2. The Apollos' loss signaled the end of their nine-game winning streak.
Sydney Arnold spent all eight innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered just two earned (and one unearned) runs on seven hits. She has been consistent: she hasn't given up more than two walks in eight consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Sunset saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Claire Townsend, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with one RBI.
Mountainside let Beaverton stack six runs on them in the seventh inning on Friday but luckily Mountainside prevailed anyway. The Mavericks skirted past the Beavers 11-9. The Mavericks haven't had any issues with the Beavers recently, as the game was their ninth consecutive win against them.
Jojo Appling made a splash while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits over four innings pitched. Appling was also stellar in the batter's box, going 3-for-4 with three doubles and two RBI. That's the most RBI she has posted since back in April.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Libby Wilson, who went 3-for-5 with one stolen base, two RBI, and one run. Those three hits gave her a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Olivia Patterson, who went 2-for-4 with two runs, two doubles, and one RBI.
Mountainside was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .474. That's the best batting average they've posted all season.
Mountainside pushed their record up to 12-10 with the victory, which was their third straight on the road. The road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.3 runs over those games. As for Sunset, their defeat was their first in the league, dropping their league record down to 8-1 and their overall record down to 20-3.
Sunset came out on top in a nail-biter against Mountainside in their previous matchup two weeks ago, sneaking past 9-7. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Apollos since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
