The Nogales Apaches will be playing in front of their home fans against the Catalina Foothills Falcons at 4:00 p.m. on Monday. Both teams are coming into the match red-hot, with Nogales sitting on six straight victories and Catalina Foothills on five.
On Saturday, Nogales earned a 7-4 win over Apollo.
Sal Valenzuela tossed a big game, striking out seven batters over 5.2 innings while giving up three earned runs off five hits.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Alan Durazo, who scored three runs and stole a base while going 3-for-3. Ralph Felix was another key contributor, scoring a run while going 1-for-3.
Meanwhile, Catalina Foothills was able to grind out a solid victory over Canyon View on Saturday, taking the game 9-6.
Catalina Foothills' win was truly a team effort as eight different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Paden Good, who scored three runs while going 4-for-4. Another player making a difference was Nate Shoemaker, who went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
Nogales pushed their record up to 16-8 with that victory, which was their seventh straight at home. As for Catalina Foothills, they are on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 22-7 record this season.
Monday's matchup will be a test for both team's pitchers. Nogales hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .319. However, it's not like Catalina Foothills struggles in that department as they've averaged .344. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Nogales took their win against Catalina Foothills when the teams last played two weeks ago by a conclusive 8-0. Does Nogales have another victory up their sleeve, or will Catalina Foothills turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps