Rio Mesa is a perfect 4-0 against Santa Barbara since March of 2023 and they'll have a chance to extend that dominance on Tuesday. The Rio Mesa Spartans will be playing in front of their home fans against the Santa Barbara Dons at 3:30 p.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Rio Mesa has six straight victories, Santa Barbara has four straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Rio Mesa's pitching crew heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They put the hurt on San Marcos with a sharp 7-0 win.
Analia Lopez
| 03/07/25 @ San Marcos | 2 |
| 03/03/25 vs Newbury Park | 1 |
| 02/27/25 vs Santa Paula | 1 |
| 05/02/24 vs Kennedy | 1 |
| 04/26/24 @ Oaks Christian | 1 |
Analia Lopez made a big impact no matter where she played. On the mound, she didn't allow a single earned run while striking out 14 over seven innings pitched. She has been consistent : she hasn't tossed less than six strikeouts any time she's pitched this season. She was also solid in the batter's box, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and one RBI. Those two doubles gave her a new career-high.
In other batting news, Jaslene Rios and Jocelyn Gomez did most of the damage at the plate: Rios scored two runs and stole Two bases. while going 3-for-4, while Gomez scored three runs and stole a base while going 2-for-3. The dominant performance gave Rios a new career-high in stolen bases. The team also got some help courtesy of Jazlynn Gonzalez, who scored a run while going 1-for-4.
Meanwhile, Santa Barbara lost 12-2 to Ventura on Friday.
Alina Magdaleno was cooking despite her team's loss, going a perfect 3-for-3 with one home run, two doubles, and two RBI.
Rio Mesa's victory was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 6-1. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.3 runs on average over those games. As for Santa Barbara, their loss dropped their record down to 3-6.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Tuesday. Rio Mesa hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 1 home runs per game. However, it's not like Santa Barbara struggles in that department as they've been averaging 0.7 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Rio Mesa took their win against Santa Barbara in their previous matchup back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 22-5. Does Rio Mesa have another victory up their sleeve, or will Santa Barbara turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
