The Buena Bulldogs will take on the Ventura Cougars at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. The squads are rolling into the game with opposing streaks: Buena has struggled recently with three defeats in a row, while Ventura will arrive with five straight victories.
Buena managed to slip by Dos Pueblos the last time these teams faced off, but didn't have those same answers this time around. Buena came up short against Dos Pueblos on Wednesday, falling 7-1.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Ventura). They blew past Nordhoff 16-3 on Thursday. Considering the Cougars have won four games by more than nine runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
Jayla Raya made a big impact while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, striking out six batters over 3.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off four hits (and only one walk). What's more, she gave up only zero earned runs, the fewest she's had since back in April of 2024. She was also big at the plate, scoring a run while going 1-for-3.
In other batting news, Aila Leoffler and Makayla Halley did most of the damage at the plate: Leoffler went 3-for-4 with one home run, three RBI, and one double, while Halley went 1-for-4 with one home run, three RBI, and two runs. The dominant performance gave Leoffler a new career-high in hits. Another player making a difference was Tessa Denger, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-4.
Ventura hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now struck out at most five strikeouts in eight consecutive contests.
Ventura's win was their third straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 9-2. The wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.7 runs on average over those games. As for Buena, their loss dropped their record down to 1-5.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
