Berkeley Prep is 8-2 against Tampa Catholic since March of 2019, and they'll have a chance to extend that success on Thursday. The Berkeley Prep Buccaneers will look to defend their home field against the Tampa Catholic Crusaders at 6:00 p.m. Berkeley Prep is strutting in with some hitting muscle, as they've averaged 7.7 runs per game this season.
Berkeley Prep stacked a tenth blowout win onto their ever-increasing hoard on Tuesday. Their pitcher stepped up to hand Wesley Chapel an 11-0 shutout. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for Berkeley Prep considering their one-run performance the contest before.
Not much got past Avery Powers, who gave up just three hits and racked up 12 Ks to keep Wesley Chapel off the board. Powers has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up more than two walks in six consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Berkeley Prep got a massive performance out of Kaia Cortes, who scored three runs while going 3-for-3. Gracie Murphy was another key contributor, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-3.
Meanwhile, Tampa Catholic unfortunately witnessed the end of their four-game winning streak on Tuesday. They fell 5-2 to Land O' Lakes. Tampa Catholic has struggled against Land O' Lakes recently, as their matchup on Tuesday was their fourth consecutive lost matchup.
Olivia Ricciardi spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered five runs (all of which were unearned) on five hits.
On the hitting side, Grace Mercado made the most of her time at bat despite the final result and went 1-for-2 with a triple, a run, and an RBI.
Berkeley Prep's victory was their eighth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 17-3. As for Tampa Catholic, their defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 8-6.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. Berkeley Prep has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.6 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Tampa Catholic struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.2. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Berkeley Prep took their win against Tampa Catholic in their previous matchup back in February by a conclusive 10-0. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Ricciardi, who struck out 13 batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned (and eight unearned) runs off five hits. Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Berkeley Prep still be able to contain Ricciardi? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
