Immanuel hasn't had much luck against Kingsburg recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Eagles will challenge the Vikings at 6:30 p.m. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Immanuel barely beat Exeter the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Eagles were the clear victors by an 11-1 margin over the Monarchs on Tuesday. The Eagles haven't had any issues with the Monarchs recently, as the game was their eighth consecutive win against them.
Amanda Herrera spent all six innings played on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered a run (which was unearned) on four hits and racked up 14 Ks. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up a single earned run in three consecutive appearances.
At the plate, Ellyann Thomas and Abigail Thomas did most of the damage at the plate: Ellyann went 3-for-4 with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI, while Abigail went 2-for-3 with three RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Natalia Delgadillo, who went 2-for-5 with two runs and one RBI.
Meanwhile, Kingsburg was not the first on the board on Tuesday, but they got there more often. Everything went their way against Reedley as they made off with an 8-2 victory. Winning may never get old, but the Vikings sure are getting used to it with their fourth in a row.
Kingsburg also let their pitcher toss all seven innings and she was also dialed-in: Alyanna 'Yaya' Gonzales gave up just two earned runs on three hits and racked up 13 Ks. With that strong performance, Gonzales is now averaging an impressive 5.4 strikeouts per game.
On the hitting side, Averie Croissant was incredible, going 1-for-3 with one home run and three RBI. That's the most RBI she has posted since back in March. Onnika Aguirre was another key player, going a perfect 1-for-1 with three runs and one stolen base.
Kingsburg hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Reedley struck out 13 times.
Kingsburg's win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 11-11. Those road victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.8 runs on average over those games. As for Immanuel, their record is now 14-5-2.
Immanuel suffered a grim 12-2 defeat to Kingsburg in their previous meeting back in April. Can the Eagles avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
