Sweetwater hasn't had much luck against Hilltop recently, but that could start to change on Wednesday. The Red Devils will square off against the Lancers at 3:30 p.m. Sweetwater's pitching crew has only allowed 3.7 runs per game this season, so Hilltop's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Sweetwater's tournament run continued when they took on Fallbrook on Saturday. The Red Devils took a 9-4 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Warriors. The contest marked the Red Devils' lowest-scoring match so far this season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Hilltop). They put the hurt on Castle Park with a sharp 13-1 victory on Monday. The Lancers haven't had any issues with the Trojans recently, as the game was their sixth consecutive win against them.
Maricela 'MJ' Barajas and Olivia Mertz were a major factor while hitting and pitching. On the mound, Barajas pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Meanwhile, Mertz pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. The dominant performance also gave her a new career-high in strikeouts (three). At bat, Barajas went a perfect 1-for-1 with one triple, one run, and one RBI, while Mertz went a perfect 1-for-1 with one home run, four RBI, and two runs. That triple marked the first that Barajas hit this season.
In other batting news, Hilltop got a massive performance out of Lexi Martinez, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with two triples and three RBI. Those three hits gave Martinez a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Natalie Wood, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with two runs, one triple, and one RBI.
Hilltop was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .632. They are a perfect 3-0 when they post a batting average of .375 or better.
Having lost for the first time this season, Sweetwater fell to 9-1-1. As for Hilltop, their record is now 5-6-1.
Sweetwater might still be hurting after the 18-6 loss they got from Hilltop when the teams last played back in April of 2024. Can the Red Devils avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
