Piedmont Hills and Pioneer are an even 3-3 against one another since March of 2015, but likely not for long. The Piedmont Hills Pirates will face off against the Pioneer Mustangs at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Piedmont Hills has five straight victories, Pioneer has three straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
For whatever reason, it's the away team that's had the advantage when Piedmont Hills and Christopher meet (three straight games heading into this one) and that held true again on Wednesday. Piedmont Hills came out on top against Christopher by a score of 7-4.
Alicia Valladarez
| 03/19/25 @ Christopher | 11 |
| 03/08/25 vs Presentation | 6 |
| 02/26/25 @ Westmont | 4 |
| 04/12/24 vs Silver Creek | 4 |
| 03/01/25 vs North Salinas | 3 |
Alicia Valladarez spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned (and three unearned) runs on five hits and racked up 11 Ks. The dominant performance gave her a new career-high in strikeouts.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Ava Delagrande, who scored two runs and stole Four bases. while going 3-for-4. Another player making a difference was Danie Pacheco, who scored two runs and stole Two bases. while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, Wednesday just wasn't the day for Pioneer's offense. They lost 8-0 to Prospect on Wednesday.
Pioneer saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Emmah Ramirez, who went 1-for-2 with one double.
Piedmont Hills pushed their record up to 6-3 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Pioneer, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-5.
Piedmont Hills' speedy runners might be the difference in Friday's match. Piedmont Hills has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 4.1 stolen bases per game. It's a different story for Pioneer, though, as they've been averaging only 1.2 stolen bases. Will they be able to secure the bases, or will Piedmont Hills continue to outrun the ball?
Piedmont Hills was able to grind out a solid victory over Pioneer when the teams last played back in May of 2024, winning 8-3. The rematch might be a little tougher for Piedmont Hills since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
