The Santiago Sharks will head out to take on the Esperanza Aztecs at 3:00 p.m. on Friday. The two teams each escaped (but just barely!) with wins against their previous opponents.
Santiago proved they can win big on Friday (they won by eight) and on Tuesday they proved they can win the close ones too. They had just enough and edged out Paloma Valley 2-1.
Meanwhile, there's no place like home for Esperanza, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Tuesday. They skirted past Cypress 4-2. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Aztecs have posted since April 15, 2024.
Charley Duran spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered just two earned runs on five hits and racked up 11 Ks.
At the plate, Jenna Gober was excellent, scoring a run while going 1-for-3.
Esperanza hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Cypress struck out 11 times.
Santiago has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games. That's provided a massive bump to their 8-8 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.0 runs on average over those games. Esperanza's win ended a three-game drought at home and bumped them up to 4-8.
Santiago might still be hurting after the 7-0 defeat they got from Esperanza when the teams last played back in February of 2024. Can Santiago avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
