The East River Falcons will head out to challenge the Lake Howell Silverhawks at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
East River will bounce into Wednesday's game after beating Winter Park, who they had gone 2-7 against in their nine prior meetings. East River's pitcher stepped up to hand Winter Park a 1-0 shutout on Tuesday. The one-run effort marked the Falcons' lowest-scoring matchup of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.
Not much got past Katherine Sanchez, who gave up just three hits and racked up 14 Ks to keep Winter Park off the board. Sanchez has been consistent : she hasn't given up more than two walks in six consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Mady Alvarado, who went 2-for-3 with one triple, one run, and one double. That triple marked the first that she hit this season.
East River hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. They are 4-1 when they post two or more strikeouts.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Lake Howell). They were the clear victors by a 16-0 margin over Eustis on Tuesday. The result was nothing new for the Silverhawks, who have now won five contests by six runs or more so far this season.
Rhianna Hudson made a splash while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, not allowing a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out eight over five innings pitched. Hudson was also big at the plate, going 1-for-3 with one home run, two runs, and two RBI. Those two runs gave her a new career-high.
In other batting news, Lake Howell got a massive performance out of Gianna Terito, who went a perfect 4-for-4 with one home run, three runs, and one double. That's the most runs Terito has posted since back in April of 2024. Another player making a difference was Skaii Rodriguez, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 4-for-5.
Lake Howell has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games. That's provided a nice bump to their 8-4 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 9.1 runs over those games. With the win, East River broke their three-game losing streak and moved their record to 6-4.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Wednesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. East River has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.1 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Lake Howell struggles in that department as they've been averaging an even more impressive 8.3 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
East River might still be hurting after the 12-1 defeat they got from Lake Howell when the teams last played back in March of 2017. Can East River avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
