The Watsonville Wildcatz are taking a road trip to square off against the Monterey Dores at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Watsonville has struggled recently with three defeats in a row, while Monterey will arrive with seven straight victories.
Salinas hit Watsonville with a seven-run third inning on Monday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Wildcatz came up short against the Cowboys, falling 15-5.
Watsonville saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Mia Espinoza, who went 1-for-3 with one run, one double, and one RBI.
Meanwhile, while Monterey put up plenty of runs on Wednesday, the same can't be said for North Salinas. The Dores put the hurt on the Vikings with a sharp 15-0 win. The Dores might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won six contests by seven runs or more this season.
Ella Myers made a splash while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowing only two hits while striking out nine over five innings pitched. Myers was also stellar in the batter's box, going a perfect 2-for-2 with three runs, three RBI, and one stolen base. That's the most runs she has posted since back in March.
In other batting news, Monterey got a massive performance out of Jaelyn Taylor, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with one home run, three RBI, and one double. Those two hits gave Taylor a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Denae Lee, who went 2-for-3 with two runs, two doubles, and two RBI.
Monterey's victory was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 15-3-1. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.3 runs over those games. As for Watsonville, their loss dropped their record down to 11-9.
Watsonville might still be hurting after the 17-6 defeat they got from Monterey in their previous meeting back in April. Can the Wildcatz avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
