The El Capitan Vaqueros will head out on the road to challenge the Granite Hills Eagles at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average, (El Capitan: 3.8, Granite Hills: 3.7) so any runs scored will be well earned.
Granite Hills is hoping to do on Thursday what Helix couldn't on Tuesday: put an end to El Capitan's winning streak, which now stands at three games. El Capitan had just enough and edged Helix out 5-4.
Shelby Vars spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered four earned runs on seven hits and racked up nine Ks. Those nine strikeouts set a new season-high mark for her.
At the plate, Alanna Christiaens was excellent, scoring a run while going 3-for-4. Another player making a difference was Aubrey Thorne, who scored a run while going 3-for-4.
Meanwhile, Granite Hills waltzed into their match on Tuesday with two straight wins... but they left with three. They came out on top against the Cougars by a score of 8-5.
Granite Hills also let their pitcher toss all seven innings and she was also dialed-in: Kaleigh Baugher gave up five earned runs on eight hits. Baugher has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive pitching appearances.
On the hitting side, Granite Hills let Sofia Mujica and Audrey Smale loose on the outfield. Mujica went 2-for-3 with a home run, four runs, and a double, while smale scored two runs and stole a base while going 4-for-4. The team also got some help courtesy of Mia Downes, who went 2-for-4 with four RBI and two doubles.
El Capitan is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 11-10-4 record this season. As for Granite Hills, they pushed their record up to 11-8 with that victory, which was their third straight at home.
El Capitan came up short against Granite Hills in their previous meeting back in April, falling 6-2. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Baugher, who didn't allow a single earned run over seven innings pitched. Now that El Capitan knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
