The Grand County Red Devils will take on the Beaver Beavers at 2:15 p.m. on Thursday. Grand County will aim to continue their three-game streak of scoring more runs each contest than the last.
Grand County is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They blew past Millard 12-1. The result was nothing new for the Red Devils, who have now won 13 games by six runs or more so far this season.
Chloe Byrd made a big impact while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, striking out ten batters over five innings while giving up just one earned run off one hit. Byrd 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, the team relied heavily on Kaiya Moore, who went 3-for-4 with three runs, one stolen base, and two RBI. That's the most RBI she has posted since back in March. Danika Hirschfeld was another key player, going 2-for-4 with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI.
Grand County always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .529. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their OBP total in four consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Beaver had just enough and edged out South Sevier 5-4 on Tuesday. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Beavers.
Beaver let Lily Wright and Jerzee Beaumont run wild. Wright went a perfect 3-for-3 with three stolen bases and two runs, while Beaumont went 1-for-2 with two stolen bases, two runs, and one double. Wright has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last four times she's played.
Grand County's record is now 17-12. As for Beaver, their record now sits at 18-7.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Thursday. Grand County hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.5 home runs per game. However, it's not like Beaver struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 0.6 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Grand County suffered a grim 13-5 defeat to Beaver in their previous meeting back in April. Can the Red Devils avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.