El Modena and Esperanza are an even 5-5 against one another since May of 2021, but likely not for long. The Vanguards will face off against the Aztecs at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (El Modena has three straight victories, Esperanza has five straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
El Modena is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of California's top teams: Canyon, who was ranked eighth at the time (El Modena was ranked tenth). The Vanguards walked away with a 4-0 win over the Comanches on Tuesday.
Not much got past Sara Pinedo, who gave up just two hits and racked up seven Ks to keep Canyon off the board. Pinedo has been consistent for a while: she hasn't given up more than two walks in ten consecutive appearances.
Lucy Mitchell
| 04/08/25 vs Canyon | 2 |
| 04/04/25 vs Otay Ranch | 1 |
| 03/25/25 vs Esperanza | 1 |
| 03/07/25 vs Canyon | 1 |
| 02/20/25 vs Capistrano Valley | 1 |
On the hitting side, El Modena saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Lucy Mitchell, who scored two runs while going 2-for-3. Those two runs gave Mitchell a new career-high. Hallie Calderon also deserves some recognition as she snagged her first stolen base of the season.
Meanwhile, Esperanza didn't have quite enough to beat Pacifica on Tuesday and fell 3-2. That's two games in a row now that the Aztecs have lost by just one run.
El Modena's victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 14-5. Those home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.7 runs on average over those games. As for Esperanza, their defeat dropped their record down to 6-13.
Everything went El Modena's way against Esperanza in their previous meeting on Friday, as El Modena made off with a 9-0 victory. Will the Vanguards repeat their success, or do the Aztecs have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
