The Piedmont Hills Pirates will square off against the Lincoln Lions at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Piedmont Hills 3.4, Lincoln 3.8) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Piedmont Hills is probably headed into the match with a chip on their shoulder considering Live Oak just ended the team's nine-game winning streak on Wednesday. They fell 6-1 to the Acorns.
Piedmont Hills saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Alicia Valladarez, who scored a run while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, Lincoln had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 4.5 runs) and they went ahead and made it three on Monday. They walked away with a 7-4 win over the Raiders.
Lincoln got a massive performance out of Jocelynn Perez, who went 2-for-3 with two runs, one triple, and one double. The team also got some help courtesy of Olivia Diaz, who scored a run and stole a base while going 3-for-4.
Lincoln kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 14 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least eight hits in seven consecutive games.
Lincoln's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 8-3. Those road wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Piedmont Hills, their defeat was their first in the league, dropping their league record down to 5-1 and their overall record down to 10-4.
Friday's contest will be a test for both teams' pitchers. Piedmont Hills hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .332. However, it's not like Lincoln struggles in that department as they've averaged .441. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Everything went Piedmont Hills' way against Lincoln in their previous meeting last Monday, as Piedmont Hills made off with a 16-4 victory. Do the Pirates have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Lions turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
