It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Nucla had no problem doing just that on Friday. They came out on top against the Sierra Grande Panthers by a score of 11-6. That's more bragging rights for Nucla, who also won the pair's last head-to-head.
Steele Arnold made a big impact no matter where he played. He tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Arnold was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 4-for-5.
In other batting news, Hemmy O'Brien was excellent, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-4. Owen Tackett was another key contributor, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 1-for-5.
On Sierra Grande's side, they saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Brian Ontiveros, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 1-for-2. Ontiveros has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in six consecutive pitching appearances. The team also got some help courtesy of Rolando Najera, who scored a run while going 3-for-4.
The win made it two in a row for Nucla and bumps their season record up to 8-10-1. As for Sierra Grande, their defeat dropped their record down to 13-2.
Nucla will be staying on the road on Friday to face off against Dove Creek at 2:00 p.m. Dove Creek has struggled to contain batters this season (they've allowed 12.36 runs per game on average), something Nucla will no doubt try to take advantage of. As for Sierra Grande, they will head out on the road to challenge Flatirons Academy at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. Sierra Grande is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 15 runs per game this season.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
