The San Ramon Valley Wolves will head out on the road to challenge the Casa Grande Gauchos at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the game red-hot, with San Ramon Valley sitting on three straight wins and Casa Grande on ten.
San Ramon Valley is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. They blew past Clayton Valley Charter 7-0. The Wolves might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won ten matches by six runs or more this season.
The result came thanks to Lila McLeod's shutout, as she gave up just five hits.
On the hitting side, Gia Ryan was excellent, getting on base in all four of her plate appearances with two runs and one RBI. Addie Layous was another key player, going 1-for-3 with two runs and one stolen base.
San Ramon Valley was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .407. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .333 or higher in three consecutive contests.
Vintage typically has all the answers at home, but on Friday Casa Grande proved too difficult a challenge. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 6-5 victory over the Crushers. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Gauchos have posted since April 12th.
Lila Partridge was a major factor no matter where she played. On the mound, she struck out six batters over seven innings while giving up just one earned (and four unearned) runs off seven hits. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than two walks in 18 consecutive appearances. She was also big at the plate, going 1-for-2 with one home run and two RBI. That's the most RBI she has posted since back in April.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Lauren Ketchu, who went 1-for-3 with one home run and three RBI. Another player making a difference was Veronica Nunez-Miller, who got on base in three of her four plate appearances with one run and one RBI.
Casa Grande's victory was their ninth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 20-5-1. Those road wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.1 runs over those games. As for San Ramon Valley, their record now sits at 16-7-2.
San Ramon Valley came out on top in a nail-biter against Casa Grande in their previous matchup back in April, sneaking past 3-1. Do the Wolves have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Gauchos turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
