The Pennington Red Hawks will head out on the road to face off against the Hopewell Valley Central Bulldogs at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Pennington's pitching crew has only allowed 2.8 runs per game this season, so Hopewell Valley Central's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Pennington barely beat West Windsor-Plainsboro South the last time the pair played, but that sure wasn't the case this time around. The Red Hawks were the clear victors by a 9-0 margin over the Pirates on Wednesday. Considering the Red Hawks have won 11 contests by more than five runs this season, Wednesday's blowout was nothing new.
The home team had won the previous five meetings between Hopewell Valley Central and Ewing, and Hopewell Valley Central kept the tradition alive. The Bulldogs came out on top against the Blue Devils by a score of 8-4 on Thursday.
The team relied heavily on Ryan Ottobre, who went 2-for-3 with three RBI, two doubles, and one run. Those two doubles gave him a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Owen Lengle, who got on base in three of his four plate appearances with one stolen base and two RBI.
Hopewell Valley Central was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .375. That was just more of the same: they've now posted a batting average of .323 or higher in five consecutive matches.
The victory (which was Pennington's third in a row) raised their record to 14-2. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.0 runs on average over those games. As for Hopewell Valley Central, they have been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games. That's provided a massive bump to their 6-7-1 record this season.
Pennington couldn't quite finish off Hopewell Valley Central in their previous meeting back in May of 2023 and fell 9-7. Can the Red Hawks 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
