The Millard West Wildcats will face off against the Millard South Patriots at 1:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Millard West is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Nebraska's top teams: Elkhorn South, who was ranked seventh at the time (Millard West was ranked third). The Wildcats took a 5-1 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Storm on Saturday. Having soared to a lofty ten runs in the game before, the Wildcats couldn't push the score so high this time.
Millard West got a good showing from Rowen Scholting, who tossed 1.1 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. That's the fewest hits Scholting has allowed over his last four matchups.
On the hitting side, Millard West saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Jake Daniel, who went 1-for-2 with one stolen base and one double.
Papillion-LaVista hit Millard South with a eight-run sixth inning on Saturday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Patriots took an 8-4 hit to the loss column at the hands of the Monarchs. The Patriots' defeat signaled the end of their three-game winning streak.
Roy Steventon made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and got on base in three of his four plate appearances with two runs, one stolen base, and one RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Blake McAndrews, who got on base in two of his four plate appearances with two stolen bases and one run.
Millard South's loss was their first in the district, dropping their district record down to 3-1 and their overall record down to 23-10. As for Millard West, their defeat ended a six-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 21-12.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Friday as neither team is afraid to steal. Millard West has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 2.8 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Millard South struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3.3 stolen bases. The only question left is which team can snag more.
Millard West came up short against Millard South when the teams last played back in April, falling 8-4. Can the Wildcats avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
