The Fruita Monument Wildcats will challenge the Grand Junction Central Warriors at 10:00 a.m. on Friday. Fruita Monument will be looking to extend their current 15-game winning streak.
Fruita Monument is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Colorado's top teams: Grandview, who was ranked 15th in their home state at the time (Fruita Monument was ranked 16th). Fruita Monument came out on top in a nail-biter against Grandview on Saturday, sneaking past 2-1. That's two games straight that the Wildcats have won by just one run.
Lacie Rodabaugh spent all eight innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned run on six hits and racked up 12 Ks. She has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up more than two walks in six consecutive appearances.
On the hitting side, Fruita Monument's victory was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Carmella Fortunato, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Grand Junction Central). Everything went their way against ThunderRidge on Friday as Grand Junction Central made off with a 20-10 win. The Warriors might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won 12 matchups by six runs or more this season.
The team relied heavily on Allison Brunk, who went 4-for-4 with four runs, five RBI, and a double. The team also got some help courtesy of Audrie Hanson, who went 4-for-4 with four RBI, two runs, and a double.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Grand Junction Central always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .730. The last time their OBP was this high was back in September of 2023.
Fruita Monument pushed their record up to 20-5 with the victory, which was their 11th straight at home. As for Grand Junction Central, they have been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 11 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 18-8 record this season.
Grand Junction Central's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Fruita Monument has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 10.1 hits per game. It's a different story for Grand Junction Central, though, as they've been averaging 8.9. Given Fruita Monument's sizable advantage in that area, Grand Junction Central will need to find a way to close that gap.
Fruita Monument was able to grind out a solid win over Grand Junction Central in their previous matchup two weeks ago, winning 4-1. Does Fruita Monument have another victory up their sleeve, or will Grand Junction Central turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
