Del Norte and Mater Dei Catholic are an even 3-3 against one another since March of 2015, but likely not for long. The Del Norte Nighthawks will be playing in front of their home fans against the Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams have allowed few runs on average, (Del Norte: 2, Mater Dei Catholic: 1.8) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Last Tuesday, Del Norte beat La Costa Canyon 5-2. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Del Norte.
Lainey Llamas was incredible, scoring a run and stealing two bases while going 3-for-4. The team also got some help courtesy of Alexis Kyles, who scored a run while going 2-for-4.
Meanwhile, with a playoff game on the line, Mater Dei Catholic rose to the challenge on Tuesday. They walked away with a 6-2 victory over the Broncos. Winning may never get old, but Mater Dei Catholic sure is getting used to it with their eighth in a row.
Analesse "Peanut" Garcia spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered just two earned runs on four hits and racked up nine Ks.
On the hitting side, Michaella Salvatierra was excellent, scoring two runs while going 2-for-3. Another player making a difference was Bella Harris, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-1.
Del Norte's win bumped their record up to 21-5. As for Mater Dei Catholic, they pushed their record up to 26-3 with that victory, which was their 18th straight at home dating back to last season.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Thursday. Del Norte hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.7 home runs per game. However, it's not like Mater Dei Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.5. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Del Norte skirted past Mater Dei Catholic 4-3 when the teams last played back in March. Will Del Norte repeat their success, or does Mater Dei Catholic have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
