The Valley Center Hornets will be staying on the road on Saturday to face off against the Circle Thunderbirds. Valley Center's pitching crew has only allowed 2.8 runs per game this season, so Circle's hitters will have their work cut out for them.
Valley Center is coming in off a wild two-game stretch: after soaring to 13 runs on Friday, they were much more limited against Maize South on Tuesday. They fell victim to a rough 8-2 defeat at the hands of the Mavericks. The loss was Valley Center's first of the season.
Meanwhile, Circle can now show off 12 landslide victories after their most recent game on Monday. They blew past El Dorado 15-0. The win was familiar territory for Circle who now have four in a row.
Ellie Randall was a major factor while hitting and pitching. On the mound, she struck out six batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and only one walk). Randall has been nothing but reliable: she hasn't given up more than two walks in five consecutive pitching appearances. Randall was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring two runs and stealing a base while getting on base in all three of her plate appearances.
In other batting news, Circle got a massive performance out of Whitney Wilbur, who went 2-for-2 with five RBI, two runs, and a double. Another player making a difference was Lauren Swilley, who scored two runs while going 3-for-3.
Having lost for the first time this season, Valley Center fell to 4-1-1. As for Circle, they have been performing well recently as they've won six of their last eight contests, which somehow isn't as good as their 14-4 record this season.
Everything went Valley Center's way against Circle when the teams last played back in May of 2022 as Valley Center made off with an 8-0 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Valley Center since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
