Decatur had lost four straight on the road, but on Thursday they dropped down to 2-8 to make it five. They came up short against the Kentlake Falcons, falling 11-1. Having soared to a lofty 18 runs in the game before, the Golden Gators couldn't push the score so high this time.
Decatur saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Ava Quiroz, who went 1-for-2 with one run and one double.
As for Kentlake, the win was the fourth in a row for them, bringing their record up to 9-4. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.0 runs on average over those games.
On Kentlake's side, Riley Linnane made a big impact no matter where she played. On the mound, she struck out seven batters over six innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits (and only one walk). Linnane has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than one earned run in three consecutive appearances. She was also stellar in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with four stolen bases and three runs. With that strong performance, she is now averaging an impressive 1.1 stolen bases per game.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Hi'Ilei Gomes, who got on base in all four of her plate appearances with one home run, four runs, and two stolen bases. Another player making a difference was Juliana Barr, who went 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, two runs, and one RBI.
Coming up, Decatur will be playing in front of their home fans against Enumclaw at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. As for Kentlake, they will challenge Kent-Meridian at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. The Royals have struggled to contain batters this season (they've allowed 19.23 runs per game on average), something the Falcons will no doubt try to take advantage of.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
