The Gila Ridge Hawks will head out to square off against the Sunnyslope Vikings at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Gila Ridge has six straight victories, Sunnyslope has three straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Sunnyslope's hitters are going to have their work cut out for them on Friday: Gila Ridge hadn't allowed a single run the last three times they've hit the field. The Hawks put the hurt on San Luis with a sharp 12-0 win on Thursday. Considering the Hawks have won 12 matches by more than nine runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
The team relied heavily on Lillyana Price, who went 2-for-3 with two runs, one triple, and one double. That triple was her first of the season. The team also got some help courtesy of Kara Espino, who went 2-for-3 with one run, one double, and one RBI.
Gila Ridge hit smart and finished the game with only one strikeout. The team has now struck out at least one batters in three consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Thursday just wasn't the day for Sunnyslope's offense. They came up short against Xavier College Prep on Thursday, falling 13-0.
Sunnyslope saw two different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Peyton Udall, who went 1-for-3 with one double.
Gila Ridge pushed their record up to 15-4 with the victory, which was their third straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games. As for Sunnyslope, their loss dropped their record down to 11-16.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Friday. Gila Ridge hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.4 home runs per game. However, it's not like Sunnyslope struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.9 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down. Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other softball content.
