South Plantation is 0-9 against Cypress Bay since March of 2015 but things could change on Monday. The South Plantation Paladins will face off against the Cypress Bay Lightning at 6:00 p.m. Cypress Bay took a loss in their last match and will be looking to turn the tables on South Plantation, who comes in off a win.
South Plantation proved they can win big on Wednesday (they won by ten) and on Thursday they proved they can win the close ones too. They narrowly escaped with a win as the squad sidled past Coral Glades 4-2. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest victory the Paladins have posted since April 9, 2024.
Aidan Fitzgerald looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-low in earned runs (zero).
On the hitting side, South Plantation saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Gio Mejia, who scored a run while going 1-for-3. What's more, Mejia posted two RBI, the most he's had since back in April of 2024. Emory Pierce also deserves some recognition as he stole his first stolen base of the season.
Meanwhile, after a string of three wins, Cypress Bay's good fortune finally ran out on Wednesday. They fell 10-5 to Deerfield Beach. Give some credit to the fans of both teams: the last four times they've met, the home team has come away the winner.
Cypress Bay also got a good showing from Max Cabrera, who pitched two innings while giving up just one earned run off two hits.
At the plate, John Escobar made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and went 1-for-4 with one home run and three RBI. Another player making a difference was Gabriel Parilli, who scored a run and stole a base while going 3-for-4.
South Plantation has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four contests. That's provided a massive bump to their 3-4 record this season. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to strikeouts: they averaged an imposing 8.25 strikeouts in those games compared to only four in the others. Cypress Bay now has a losing record of 3-4.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Monday as neither team is afraid to steal. South Plantation has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 4.4 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like Cypress Bay struggles in that department as they've been averaging 4.3 stolen bases. The only question left is which team can snag more. Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
