The Shadow Ridge Mustangs will square off against the Legacy Longhorns at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
As a matter of fact, Shadow Ridge put up the most points they have all season on Wednesday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Centennial, sneaking past 11-9. The game was the first time the Mustangs have beaten the Bulldogs on their field since April 25, 2018.
Marco Montesanti was incredible, going a perfect 4-for-4 with two triples, five RBI, and one double. Those two triples gave him a new career-high. Samuel Stahl was another key player, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 1-for-3.
Montesanti wasn't the only one working in the hit department: Shadow Ridge kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 11 hits. That's the most hits they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, it may have taken eight innings to finish the job, but Legacy ultimately got the result they hoped for on Thursday. They put the hurt on Clark with a sharp 13-7 win. With that victory, the Longhorns brought their scoring average up to 6.3 runs per game.
The team relied heavily on Easton Lake, who went 3-for-5 with three doubles, two runs, and one stolen base. He is becoming a predictor of Legacy's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is undefeated (and 2-8 when he doesn't). The team also got some help courtesy of William Glover, who scored two runs and stole two bases while getting on base in three of his five plate appearances.
Legacy has been performing well recently as they've won five of their last six matchups. That's provided a nice bump to their 5-8 record this season. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to strikeouts: they averaged an imposing 7.33 strikeouts in those games compared to only 3.14 in the others. Shadow Ridge's win bumped their record up to 4-9.
Shadow Ridge skirted past Legacy 6-4 in their previous meeting back in February. Will Shadow Ridge repeat their success, or does Legacy has a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
