The East Bay Indians will take on the Sickles Gryphons at 3:00 p.m. on Friday. East Bay has given up an average of 7.8 runs per game this season, so hopefully the team got some pitching drills in this week.
East Bay lost 12-5 to Durant on Thursday.
Molly Johnson made the most of her time at bat despite the final result and scored a run while going 2-for-3. Jessalyn Lugo was another key player, going 1-for-4 with three RBI and one double.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Sickles). They never let Leto get on the board and left with a 20-0 win on Tuesday. With that victory, the Gryphons brought their scoring average up to 7.9 runs per game.
Lauren Larsen and Zoe Mello made a big impact no matter where they played. On the mound, Larsen struck out six batters over two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits (and not a single walk). Meanwhile, Mello pitched one inning while giving up no earned runs or hits. Those six strikeouts gave Larsen a new career-high. At bat, Larsen scored three runs while going 2-for-2, while Mello scored a run while getting on base in all three of her plate appearances.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Kalyssa Austin, who scored three runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3. The dominant performance also gave her a new career-high in RBI (three). Another player making a difference was Briana Browder, who scored a run while getting on base in three of her four plate appearances.
Sickles always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .806. That's the best OBP they've posted all season.
East Bay's loss ended a seven-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 2-3. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to strikeouts: they averaged an imposing 10.29 strikeouts in those games compared to only four in the others. As for Sickles, their win ended a three-game drought on the road and puts them at 3-4.
East Bay was able to grind out a solid victory over Sickles in their previous meeting back in May of 2018, winning 5-1. Will East Bay repeat their success, or does Sickles have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
