The Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders are taking a road trip to square off against the Athens Drive Jaguars at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Cardinal Gibbons has seven straight wins, Athens Drive has five straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
If Cardinal Gibbons beats Athens Drive with 11 runs on Wednesday, it's going to be the team's new lucky number: they've won their past two matches with that exact score. The Crusaders were the clear victors by an 11-1 margin over Leesville Road on Tuesday. Considering the Crusaders have won nine contests by more than five runs this season, Tuesday's blowout was nothing new.
Katie Scavone was incredible, scoring a run while going 4-for-4. What's more, she posted two doubles, the most she's had since back in February. The team also got some help courtesy of Grace Mazzo, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-3.
Cardinal Gibbons was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .438. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .423 or higher in three consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Athens Drive fell victim to Cardinal Gibbons and their airtight pitching crew on Monday. They lost 11-0 to the Crusaders. The match marked the first time this year in which the Jaguars were not able to get on the board.
Athens Drive saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Ayla Cole, who went 1-for-2 with one double.
Cardinal Gibbons pushed their record up to 10-4 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. The road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 14.3 runs over those games. As for Athens Drive, their loss dropped their record down to 3-13.
Athens Drive's hitters will have their work cut out for them on Wednesday. Cardinal Gibbons has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.5 strikeouts per game. It's a different story for Athens Drive, though, as they've been averaging only 4 strikeouts. Will Cardinal Gibbons keep running through batters, or will the Jaguars buck the trend?
Everything went Cardinal Gibbons' way against Athens Drive when the teams last played on Monday, as Cardinal Gibbons made off with an 11-0 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Crusaders since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
