Los Banos was the 5-3 winner over Merced when they last played one another back in March of 2024, but their luck changed this time around. The Los Banos Tigers fell just short of the Merced Bears by a score of 3-2 on Thursday. That's two games in a row now that the Tigers have lost by just one run.
Mya Arista spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered only one earned (and two unearned) runs on seven hits.
On the hitting side, Gracie Orozco was cooking despite her team's loss, going 2-for-3 with one triple and one run.
Los Banos' loss ended a five-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 4-3. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to strikeouts: they averaged an imposing 7.8 strikeouts in those games compared to only four in the others. As for Merced, the victory made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 6-2-2.
Coming up, Los Banos will venture away from home to square off against Atwater at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. As for Merced, they will welcome Golden Valley at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps