The Foothill Falcons will face off against the Shadow Ridge Mustangs at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
Foothill is probably headed into the match with a chip on their shoulder considering Murrieta Mesa just ended the team's five-game winning streak on Thursday. They fell 6-3 to the Rams.
Zaden Kekoa Sibal was cooking despite his team's loss, going 2-for-3 with one triple, one run, and one RBI. That triple marked the first that he hit this season.
Meanwhile, Shadow Ridge faced Spring Valley in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Friday. The Mustangs blew past the Grizzlies 9-3. The Mustangs have beaten the Grizzlies the last five times they've met, but they better watch out: this was the closest the Grizzlies has come to flipping the script.
Skyler Fife looked comfortable as he kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits over four innings pitched. Shadow Ridge is 2-1 when Fife allows one or fewer earned runs, but 5-9 otherwise.
At the plate, Oliver Schoppmann and Marco Montesanti did most of the damage at the plate: Schoppmann went 2-for-3 with three RBI, one triple, and one run, while Montesanti scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-5. Montesanti is becoming a predictor of Shadow Ridge's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is undefeated (and 3-10 when he doesn't). The team also got some help courtesy of Anthony Montesanti, who went 1-for-3 with one home run and two RBI.
Shadow Ridge kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 12 hits. That's a new trend for them: they were averaging 3.7 hits per game earlier this season, but in their last 15 contests they've averaged 9.4.
Shadow Ridge's victory bumped their record up to 7-10. As for Foothill, their loss dropped their record down to 13-6.
Foothill was able to grind out a solid win over Shadow Ridge in their previous meeting back in May of 2024, winning 6-2. Do the Falcons have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Mustangs turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
