The Hillcrest Trojans will head out on the road to square off against the Arlington Lions at 3:15 p.m. on Monday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Hillcrest is headed into the contest fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They never let La Sierra onto the board and left with a 23-0 victory on Thursday. With that win, Hillcrest brought their scoring average up to 6.2 runs per game.
Mattison Beliveau was a major factor while hitting and pitching. She didn't allow a single earned run and only two hits while striking out six over four innings pitched. Beliveau has been nothing but reliable on the mound: she hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in 16 consecutive pitching appearances. Beliveau was also big at the plate, going 3-for-5 with three RBI and a double.
In other batting news, Hillcrest got a massive performance out of Melody Acevedo, who went 3-for-4 with a home run, six RBI, and four runs. Another player making a difference was Nicole Riddell, who got on base in all five of her plate appearances with a home run, three runs, and three RBI.
Meanwhile, everything went Arlington's way against Patriot on Thursday as Arlington made off with a 9-1 victory. The win made it back-to-back victories for Arlington.
Itzel Hernandez spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned run on four hits.
At the plate, Lorena Ricasa was incredible, going 2-for-4 with three RBI, two runs, and a triple. The team also got some help courtesy of Natalie Puentes, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
The win was the third in a row for Hillcrest, bringing their record for this year to 11-13. As for Arlington, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 10-7 record this season.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Monday. Hillcrest hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.7 home runs per game. However, it's not like Arlington struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.6. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Hillcrest beat Arlington 3-0 in their previous meeting last Thursday. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Hernandez, who struck out seven batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off six hits (and only one walk). Now that she's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Hillcrest still be able to contain Hernandez? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
