The La Cueva Bears will head out on the road to square off against the Cibola Cougars at 3:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are sauntering into the matchup backed by comfortable wins in their prior games.
La Cueva scored the most runs they've had all season to find success on Wednesday. Their pitcher stepped up to hand Del Norte a 15-0 shutout. The win was familiar territory for La Cueva who now have three in a row.
Hailey King was a standout: she went 2-for-3 with a triple, two RBI, and a run. The team also got some help courtesy of Antonya Lucero, who went 1-for-2 with three RBI, a triple, and a run.
Meanwhile, Cibola faced Albuquerque in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Thursday. Cibola blew past Albuquerque 17-9. The high-flying hitting performance was a huge turnaround for Cibola considering their one-run performance the matchup before.
Gabrielle Moncada and Maci Melvin were a major factor no matter where they played. On the mound, Moncada struck out ten batters over 4.1 innings while giving up three earned (and three unearned) runs off six hits. Meanwhile, Melvin tossed 2.2 innings while giving up just one earned (and two unearned) runs off three hits. Moncada has been consistent recently: she hasn't tossed less than five strikeouts in three consecutive pitching appearances. At bat, Moncada went 3-for-5 with three RBI, two runs, and a triple, while Melvin fired off two home runs, three runs, and four RBI while going 2-for-4.
In other batting news, Ashley Varela and Amaya Castille did most of the damage at the plate: Varela scored two runs while going 3-for-4, while Castille scored three runs while going 2-for-4. Another player making a difference was Aunika Marquez, who scored two runs while going 2-for-5.
La Cueva's victory was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 6-3. They've been dominating during the contests in that stretch too, as they've won by an average of 8.5 runs. As for Cibola, the win was the third in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 5-3.
Friday's game will be a test for both team's pitchers. La Cueva hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .322. However, it's not like Cibola struggles in that department as they've averaged .405. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
Everything went La Cueva's way against Cibola when the teams last played back in April of 2023 as La Cueva made off with a 12-4 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for La Cueva 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
