The King's Academy Knights are taking a road trip to challenge the Hillsdale Fighting Knights at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (King's Academy 3.6, Hillsdale 2.5) so any runs scored will be well earned.
King's Academy barely beat San Mateo the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Knights' pitcher stepped up to hand the Bearcats a 6-0 shutout on Tuesday. Winning may never get old, but the Knights sure are getting used to it with their fourth in a row.
The result came thanks to Katia Nesper's shutout, as she gave up just a hit and racked up 14 Ks. She has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't given up more than two hits in ten consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Ava Thompson, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with two stolen bases, one run, and one RBI. That's the most stolen bases she has posted since back in March. Mia Bennette was another key player, going 1-for-4 with one triple, one run, and one RBI.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Hillsdale). They put the hurt on Woodside with a sharp 12-2 victory on Tuesday. The Fighting Knights' offense finally found a way to get into gear: the high-octane performance was a 180-degree turn from their last three games.
Lola Jones made a big impact no matter where she played. She struck out six batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned runs off seven hits. Jones was also big at the plate, going a perfect 5-for-5 with one home run and four RBI.
In other batting news, Hillsdale got a massive performance out of Taylor O'Mahony, who went 3-for-5 with three RBI, two runs, and one stolen base. Sammie Marinec also deserves some recognition as she scored her first run of the season.
Hillsdale was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .450. That's the best batting average they've posted all season.
Hillsdale has been performing well recently as they've won ten of their last 13 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 14-8-1 record this season. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.5 runs on average over those games. As for King's Academy, their record is now 13-7.
King's Academy was able to grind out a solid victory over Hillsdale in their previous meeting back in April, winning 3-0. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Knights since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
