Liberty is on a nine-game streak of home wins, while Poly is on a five-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Bison will welcome the Bears at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday. Liberty is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 6.8 runs per game this season.
On Tuesday, Liberty was able to grind out a solid win over Hemet, taking the game 7-2.
Janessa Guigliano spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered just two earned runs on nine hits and racked up seven Ks.
At the plate, the team relied heavily on Attiana Thompson, who went 3-for-4 with one home run, three RBI, and two runs. That's the most RBI she has posted since back in March. Cheri LeDoux was another key player, going 1-for-2 with one home run and two RBI.
Meanwhile, Poly faced Valley View in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Tuesday. The Bears' pitcher stepped up to hand the Eagles a 3-0 shutout.
Not much got past Marley Audoma, who gave up just five hits to keep Valley View off the board. Audoma has been consistent for a while: she hasn't given up more than two walks in 14 consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Brookelyn Duerfeldt was incredible, going 2-for-3 with one home run and one double. Another player making a difference was Cassandra Ayala, who went 1-for-4 with two RBI and one double.
Liberty is on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 11 matches. That's provided a massive bump to their 15-8 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.5 runs over those games. As for Poly, their win bumped their record up to 18-6-1.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Thursday. Liberty hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 1.3 home runs per game. However, it's not like Poly struggles in that department as they've been averaging 1.1 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Liberty came out on top in a nail-biter against Poly in their previous meeting two weeks ago, sneaking past 5-4. Will the Bison repeat their success, or do the Bears have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
