North Valleys has gone 8-2 against Sparks recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Saturday. The Panthers will be playing at home against the Railroaders at 10:00 a.m. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (North Valleys has five straight victories, Sparks has eight straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
North Valleys' pitching crew heads into the game hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Saturday. They put the hurt on Hug with a sharp 15-0 win. Considering the Panthers have won ten matchups by more than five runs this season, Saturday's blowout was nothing new.
Alejandro Urbina
| 04/12/25 vs Hug | 6 |
| 03/22/25 vs South Tahoe | 4 |
| 03/15/25 vs Elko | 4 |
| 03/11/25 vs Lowry | 4 |
| 03/01/25 vs Lassen | 3 |
Alejandro Urbina made a splash while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he struck out six batters over three innings while giving up no earned runs or hits (and not a single walk). Those six strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also solid in the batter's box, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-2.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Caden Birch, who fired off two home runs, six RBI, and four runs while going 4-for-4. That's the most RBI he has posted since back in March. Zach Clarke was another key player, scoring four runs and stealing a base while going 3-for-3.
North Valleys kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 14 hits. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Hug didn't got any hits.
Meanwhile, Sparks came up short against Portola on Wednesday, falling 11-1.
Sparks saw three different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Eli Flores, who scored a run and stole a base while going 1-for-2.
North Valleys pushed their record up to 15-5 with the victory, which was their fifth straight at home. The home wins came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 1.2 runs on average over those games. As for Sparks, their loss dropped their record down to 1-19.
Sparks' pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: North Valleys hasn't had any issues making contact this season, having earned a batting average of .377. It's a different story for Sparks, though, as they've only averaged .170. Will they be able to contain North Valleys' hitters?
Everything went North Valleys' way against Sparks in their previous meeting back in March, as North Valleys made off with a 10-1 victory. Do the Panthers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Railroaders turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
