The Herriman Mustangs will square off against the Mountain Ridge Sentinels at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Herriman comes in on seven and Mountain Ridge on eight.
On Wednesday, Herriman earned a 6-3 victory over Copper Hills.
Ashlyn Beratto spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered three earned runs on six hits.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Kinlee McDermaid, who went 2-for-4 with one home run and three runs. That's the most runs she has posted since back in March. Jaylee Hansen also deserves some recognition as she snagged her first stolen base of the season.
They weren't the only ones making solid contact: Herriman kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 12 hits. They are a perfect 11-0 when they post 11 or more hits.
Meanwhile, Mountain Ridge faced Riverton in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Tuesday. The Sentinels put the hurt on the Silverwolves with a sharp 9-2 win. The result was nothing new for the Sentinels, who have now won ten games by seven runs or more so far this season.
Mountain Ridge also let their pitcher toss all seven innings and she was also dialed-in: Sydney Lambert gave up only one earned (and one unearned) run on two hits and racked up 12 Ks. Lambert has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in ten consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Red Brooks and Hanna Lino did most of the damage at the plate: Brooks got on base in all four of her plate appearances with two RBI, one run, and one double, while Lino went 2-for-3 with two runs, one triple, and one double. Another player making a difference was Tatyana Toala, who got on base in two of her four plate appearances with two RBI and one run.
Mountain Ridge pushed their record up to 15-1 with the victory, which was their ninth straight at home. Those home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 11.9 runs over those games. As for Herriman, their record is now 14-8.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Thursday. Herriman hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.9 home runs per game. However, it's not like Mountain Ridge struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.6 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Herriman couldn't quite get it done against Mountain Ridge in their previous matchup back in March as they fell 6-1. Can the Mustangs avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
