St. Pius X has gone 9-1 against Grants recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Tuesday. The Sartans will take on the Pirates at 3:00 p.m. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with St. Pius X sitting on four straight wins and Grants on seven.
St. Pius X proved they can win big on Tuesday (they won by 18) and on Wednesday they proved they can win the close ones too. They had just enough and edged out Belen 5-4. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Sartans have posted since March 23, 2024.
Lilee Zarate
| 04/16/25 vs Belen | 1 |
| 04/08/25 vs Valencia | 1 |
| 04/07/25 @ Belen | 1 |
Lilee Zarate spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered just two earned (and two unearned) runs on five hits. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than one walk in three consecutive appearances.
At the plate, St. Pius X's win was truly a team effort as seven different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Diamor Ibarra-Villegas, who went 2-for-4 with two runs. Daniella Romero also deserves some recognition as she brought in her first RBI of the season.
18 must be Grants' lucky number: they beat Newcomb with that score not once but twice on Monday. The Pirates put the hurt on the Skyhawks with a sharp 18-3 victory. The Pirates might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won six matches by nine runs or more this season.
Aubrhyanna Garcia was a standout: she went 3-for-4 with one home run, five RBI, and three runs. Those five RBI gave her a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Madisyn Chavez, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with one home run, three runs, and three RBI.
Grants always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .700. They are a perfect 8-0 when they post an OBP of .513 or better.
Grants pushed their record up to 12-8 with the win, which was their fifth straight at home. The home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 13.6 runs over those games. As for St. Pius X, their record is now 10-12.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Tuesday. St. Pius X hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.6 home runs per game. However, it's not like Grants struggles in that department as they've been averaging 1 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Everything went St. Pius X's way against Grants in their previous meeting on April 3rd, as St. Pius X made off with an 11-0 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Sartans since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
