The Royal Palm Beach Wildcats will take on the Leonard Lancers at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
Royal Palm Beach is headed in fresh off scoring the most runs they have all season. They put the hurt on Lake Worth with a sharp 20-3 victory on Tuesday. The Wildcats haven't had any issues with the Trojans recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive win against them.
The team relied heavily on Valeria Mejia, who scored three runs and stole Two bases. while going 2-for-2. She also brought in an RBI, marking her first of the season.
Mejia wasn't the only one working in the hit department: Royal Palm Beach kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 16 hits. That's the most hits they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Leonard, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Thursday. Everything went their way against Berean Christian on Tuesday as Leonard made off with an 18-3 victory. The Lancers might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won four matchups by 15 runs or more this season.
Yanina Varela made a splash no matter where she played. On the mound, she pitched three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. The dominant performance also gave her a new career-low in earned runs (zero). She was even better at the plate, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 3-for-3. She is also on a roll when it comes to RBI, as she's now brought in three or more in each of the last three games she's played.
In other batting news, Arianna Sheerer was incredible, getting on base in all four of her plate appearances with three runs, three RBI, and one triple. Dayanara Gonzalez was another key player, scoring two runs while getting on base in all four of her plate appearances.
Leonard's win bumped their record up to 4-5. As for Royal Palm Beach, their victory bumped their record up to 2-6.
Thursday's contest will be a test for both teams' pitchers. Royal Palm Beach hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .330. However, it's not like Leonard struggles in that department as they've averaged .398. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Everything went Royal Palm Beach's way against Leonard in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, as Royal Palm Beach made off with a 33-23 win. Will Royal Palm Beach repeat their success, or does Leonard have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
