The Cibola Cougars will square off against the Carlsbad Cavemen/Cavegirls at 9:00  a.m.  on Friday.
Cibola heads in on the heels of a playoff  game on Thursday. They fell just short of La Cueva by a score of  4-3.
Meanwhile, Carlsbad faced Atrisco Heritage Academy in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Thursday. The Cavemen/Cavegirls blew past the Jaguars 10-4. The result was nothing new for the Cavemen/Cavegirls, who have now won 11 matches by six  runs or more  so far this season.
 Aubrey Hernandez made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, she  didn't allow a single  earned run and  allowed only  one  hit while striking out six over seven innings pitched. She has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't  tossed less than six  strikeouts in seven consecutive appearances. She was also solid in the batter's box,  getting on base  in three of her four plate appearances with one  RBI.
 In other batting news,  Katrina Ortega was a standout: she went a perfect 3-for-3 with six  RBI, two  doubles,  and one  run. That's the most  hits  she has posted since back in March. Another player making a difference was  Kalion Fuentes, who  went 3-for-4 with two  stolen bases, two  RBI,  and one  run.
 Carlsbad is  on a roll lately: they've  won 16 of their last 17 contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 22-7 record  this season. Those  wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.4 runs on average over those games. As for Cibola, their loss dropped their record down to 23-6.
 Cibola suffered a grim  10-0 defeat to Carlsbad  in their previous meeting  back in May of 2023. Can the Cougars avenge their  defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps