The Desert Vista Thunder will venture away from home to square off against the Basha Bears at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as Desert Vista comes in on eight and Basha on four.
Desert Vista is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Arizona's top teams: O'Connor, who was ranked fourth at the time (Desert Vista was ranked 18th). The Thunder had just enough and edged out the Eagles 6-5. That's two games straight that the Thunder have won by just one run.
The team relied heavily on Mckenzie Leitgen, who went 2-for-3 with one home run.
Meanwhile, Basha narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Chandler 3-2.
Basha also got a great performance from Brie Fynan as she tossed six innings while giving up just two earned runs off nine hits. Fynan has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up more than two walks in four consecutive appearances.
At the plate, Basha let Makaila Quinney and Vaeh Luna run wild. Quinney went 1-for-3 with one home run, while Luna went 1-for-3 with one home run. Quinney is on a roll when it comes to home runs, as she's now launched at least one in each of the last four games she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Grace McNulty, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with one stolen base.
Basha lost a few balls and finished the game with two home runs. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now launched at least two home runs in three consecutive matches.
Basha pushed their record up to 21-5 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.4 runs on average over those games. As for Desert Vista, their record now sits at 23-5.
Basha's hitters will have their work cut out for them on Thursday. Desert Vista has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 6.9 strikeouts per game. It's a different story for Basha, though, as they've been averaging an even more impressive 3.2 strikeouts. Will Desert Vista keep running through batters, or will the Bears buck the trend?
Desert Vista took their victory against Basha in their previous meeting back in April of 2024 by a conclusive 14-3 score. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Thunder since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
