Upper St. Clair is 1-9 against Chartiers Valley since April of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The Panthers will challenge the Colts at 3:30 p.m.
Upper St. Clair is headed into Thursday's match looking for a big change in momentum after dropping their sixth straight game on Wednesday. They were a single run away from ending the streak, but they lost a 2-1 heartbreaker at the hands of West Allegheny.
Upper St. Clair saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Caroline Barnard, who went 2-for-3 with one run and one double.
Meanwhile, Chartiers Valley gave up the first runs on Wednesday, but they didn't let that get them down. They were the clear victors by an 11-1 margin over Moon Area. The result was nothing new for the Colts, who have now won seven games by six runs or more so far this season.
Delaney O'Connor and Taylor Walsh made a big impact no matter where they played. Throwing, O'Connor tossed three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Meanwhile, Walsh tossed two innings while giving up no earned runs off two hits. At bat, O'Connor went 1-for-2 with two RBI and one double, while Walsh went 2-for-3 with two triples, two runs, and one RBI. Those two triples gave Walsh a new career-high.
In other batting news, Ava Dunlap and Gianna Scalise did most of the damage at the plate: Dunlap went 2-for-3 with two runs, one triple, and one RBI, while Scalise went 1-for-2 with three RBI, one triple, and one run. Those three RBI gave Scalise a new career-high. Chloe Tenney also deserves some recognition as she hit her first triple of the season.
Chartiers Valley was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .500. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Moon Area only posted a batting average of .222.
Chartiers Valley has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven contests. That's provided a nice bump to their 9-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.3 runs on average over those games. As for Upper St. Clair, they now have a losing record of 5-6.
Upper St. Clair came up short against Chartiers Valley in their previous meeting on Monday, falling 8-4. Can the Panthers avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
