The Dinuba Emperors will square off against the Liberty Hawks at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The timing isn't great for Dinuba: they have been struggling with ten straight losses at home dating back to last season, while Liberty has snatched up six consecutive wins on the road also dating back to last season.
Dinuba made up a huge gap compared to their last game against Sierra Pacific, but they still couldn't quite topple them. Dinuba blew past Sierra Pacific 12-2 on Tuesday. The game marked the Emperors' most dominant win of the season so far.
Neveah Garcia made a big impact while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, striking out eight batters over five innings while giving up just two earned runs off three hits. Those three hits allowed gave her a new career-low. She was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with one RBI. That RBI marked the first that she brought in this season.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Lacy Rios, who went a perfect 2-for-2 with three RBI, two runs, and one triple. Hope Diaz was another key player, scoring a run while going 2-for-4.
Dinuba was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .407. The last time their batting average was this high was back in April of 2024.
Meanwhile, while Liberty put up some runs on Saturday, the same can't be said for Tulare Union. Liberty put the hurt on Tulare Union with a sharp 10-0 victory.
Liberty also got a great performance from Macie Webster as she didn't allow a single earned run and allowed only one hit while striking out six over six innings pitched.
At the plate, Carly Jimenez was incredible, scoring four runs and stealing Three bases. while going 3-for-4. With that strong performance, she is now averaging an impressive 1.2 stolen bases per game. Another player making a difference was Ari Aguayo, who scored two runs and stole Two bases. while getting on base in all four of her plate appearances.
Liberty's win bumped their record up to 4-1. As for Dinuba, their victory bumped their record up to 3-4.
Dinuba beat Liberty 6-2 in their previous meeting last Tuesday. Will Dinuba repeat their success, or does Liberty have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
