The St. Joseph Cadets are headed away from home for the first time to square off against the St. Anthony's Friars at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with St. Joseph sitting on three straight wins and St. Anthony's on four.
St. Joseph's pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Monday. They walked away with a 4-0 victory over Newtown. Four seems to be a good number for the Cadets as the squad scooped up a win with the same number of runs in their previous game.
The result came thanks to Katie Dzialo's shutout, as she gave up just three hits and racked up 11 Ks. She has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up more than one earned run any time she's pitched this season.
On the hitting side, the team relied heavily on Gina Coppola, who went 1-for-3 with one home run. The team also got some help courtesy of MacKenzie Caouette, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
Meanwhile, St. Anthony's won against Sacred Heart Academy on Friday with 18 runs and they decided to stick to that run total again on Monday. The Friars were the clear victors by an 18-0 margin over St. Dominic. The game marked the Friars' most dominant victory of the season so far.
Melissa Gordon was a major factor while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, striking out six batters over two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits (and only one walk). Gordon was also big at the plate, going a perfect 2-for-2 with one home run and one double. That home run marked the first that she launched this season.
In other batting news, St. Anthony's got a massive performance out of Jaclyn Delpozzo, who scored three runs and stole four bases while going 1-for-2. Mia Vaccariello was another key player, scoring two runs and stealing three bases while going 1-for-1.
St. Anthony's hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. The team has now struck out at least five batters every time they've taken the field this season.
St. Anthony's win was their 19th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 7-1. Those home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 0.5 runs on average over those games. As for St. Joseph, their record is now 3-0.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Tuesday as both have some strikeout artists on the roster. St. Joseph has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 12.7 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like St. Anthony's struggles in that department as they've been averaging 9.4 strikeouts. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one. Check MaxPreps after the match for a full breakdown of the game, commentary, and other softball content.
