The Del Norte Nighthawks will look to defend their home field on Thursday against the Mission Hills Grizzlies at 6:30 p.m. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (Del Norte: 1.8, Mission Hills: 2.8) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Del Norte took a loss when they played away from home on Thursday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Saturday. They had just enough and edged Poway out 2-1.
The team relied heavily on Lainey Llamas, who went 2-for-2 with a home run and two RBI.
Meanwhile, it was a hard-fought match, but Mission Hills had to settle for an 8-6 defeat against Rancho Bernardo on Tuesday. Mission Hills has not had much luck with Rancho Bernardo recently, as the team's come up short the last three times they've met.
Oloa Motas was huge while hitting and pitching even without the win. She looked comfortable on the mound, striking out seven batters over five innings while giving up three earned runs off seven hits. Motas has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts in four consecutive pitching appearances. Motas was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run while going 2-for-3.
Motas wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Abby Huhn, who scored two runs while going 1-for-3. Huhn has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up more than two hits in three consecutive pitching appearances. Emma Umemura was another key contributor, scoring a run while going 2-for-4.
Del Norte pushed their record up to 18-3 with that victory, which was their third straight at home. As for Mission Hills, their loss ended a four-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 14-8-2.
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 0.8 home runs per game. However, it's not like Mission Hills struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.9. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Del Norte skirted past Mission Hills 3-2 in their previous matchup back in April. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Huhn, who struck out ten batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off four hits. Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Del Norte still be able to contain Huhn? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
