The Woodside Wildcats will take on the Palma Chieftains on Saturday. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.
Woodside is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Wednesday. They came out on top in a nail-biter against Watsonville, sneaking past 2-1. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Wildcats have posted since April 15th.
Hannah Walker spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned run on four hits. She has been consistent: she hasn't given up more than two walks in seven consecutive appearances.
At the plate, Woodside saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Ava Baker, who went 1-for-3 with two RBI and one double.
Meanwhile, Palma had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 3.8 runs) and they went ahead and made it five on Wednesday. They beat the Fightin' Irish by the very same score they won with in their prior game: 3-2.
Sophia Cardinale made a splash no matter where she played. She didn't allow a single earned run while striking out 13 over seven innings pitched. Those 13 strikeouts gave her a new career-high. She was also big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with one stolen base, one run, and one double.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Ashlyn Urmanita, who went 3-for-4 with one stolen base, one run, and one RBI. That's the most hits she has posted since back in March.
Palma hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. They are 3-1 when they post two or more strikeouts.
Woodside is on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 15-11 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.8 runs on average over those games. As for Palma, they pushed their record up to 10-14-1 with the win, which was their fourth straight on the road.
