The River Valley Dust Devils will head out on the road to challenge the Kingman Bulldogs at 3:45 p.m. on Monday. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
River Valley took a loss when they played away from home last Wednesday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Monday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the squad sidled past American Leadership Academy - West Foothills 3-1.
River Valley got a great performance from Dreyton Gleason as he didn't allow a single earned run and only one hit over 6.1 innings pitched. Gleason has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in three consecutive pitching appearances.
At the plate, Chad Hunter was excellent, going 2-for-3 with a triple, two RBI, and a run.
Meanwhile, Kingman owes their pitching crew a big pat on the back after their performance on Saturday. They put the hurt on Parker with a sharp 9-0 win. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Kingman.
Albert Lopez made a splash no matter where he played. On the mound, he kept things locked down with no earned runs or hits while striking out nine over seven innings pitched. Lopez was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run and stealing a base while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Canton Collins, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 2-for-3. Garrick Hallman was another key contributor, scoring two runs while going 3-for-4.
River Valley pushed their record up to 15-8-1 with that victory, which was their eighth straight at home. As for Kingman, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 10-13 record this season.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Monday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. River Valley has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.2 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Kingman struggles in that department as they've been averaging 6.7. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
River Valley was able to grind out a solid win over Kingman in their previous meeting back in March, winning 14-9. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Kingman's Codey Padilla, who scored a run and stole three bases while going 4-for-4. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will River Valley still be able to contain Padilla? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
