The Cactus Shadows Falcons will take on the Peoria Panthers at 3:45 p.m. on Monday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Cactus Shadows has eight straight wins, Peoria has five straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Cactus Shadows' pitching crew heads into the contest hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Saturday. They blew past Lee Williams 15-0. Considering the Falcons have won nine games by more than six runs this season, Saturday's blowout was nothing new.
Cash Duley looked comfortable as he pitched two innings while giving up no earned runs or hits. He has been consistent : he hasn't given up more than one hit in five consecutive appearances.
At the plate, Evan Hanish was incredible, going 1-for-2 with four RBI, one run, and one double. The team also got some help courtesy of Dominic Ziccarelli, who scored three runs while going 2-for-3.
Cactus Shadows kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 12 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least eight hits in six consecutive matchups.
Meanwhile, Peoria scored the most runs they've had this season on Wednesday, but it wasn't enough. They came up short against Browne, falling 12-5.
Peoria saw five different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Diego Zamora, who scored a run and stole three bases while going 1-for-3. Zamora also put up a double, which was his first of the season.
Cactus Shadows' victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-0-1. Those wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.2 runs on average over those games. As for Peoria, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-4.
Peoria's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Cactus Shadows hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .410. It's a different story for Peoria, though, as they've only averaged .155. Will they be able to contain Cactus Shadows' hitters?
Everything went Cactus Shadows' way against Peoria in their previous matchup back in April of 2015, as Cactus Shadows made off with a 20-0 victory. Will Cactus Shadows repeat their success, or does Peoria has a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
