The Academy for Academic Excellence Knights will take on the Hesperia Scorpions in a tournament on Monday.
Last Wednesday, Academy for Academic Excellence didn't have quite enough to beat Adelanto and fell 4-3.
Emily Garcia put in work while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, tossing two innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit. Garcia was also big at the plate, scoring a run and stealing a base while getting on base in two of her three plate appearances.
Garcia wasn't the only one making solid contact as two players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Kayla Berg, who scored a run while going 1-for-3.
Meanwhile, Hesperia sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 15-14 win over Victor Valley on Saturday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Scorpions.
Like Academy for Academic Excellence, Hesperia also got a great game from a two-way player: Malena Griego. On the mound, she tossed 4.2 innings while giving up just one earned (and four unearned) runs off four hits. Griego was also stellar in the batter's box, scoring two runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-3.
In other batting news, Marlie Munoz was a standout: she scored two runs and stole a base while going 3-for-4. Another player making a difference was Angie Villolobos, who scored two runs while going 2-for-4.
Hesperia was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .429. The last time their batting average was this high was back in February of 2024.
Academy for Academic Excellence's defeat ended a three-game streak of away wins dating back to last season and brought them to 1-1. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 16.3 runs. As for Hesperia, they now have a winning record of 2-1.
Academy for Academic Excellence took their victory against Hesperia when the teams last played back in March of 2024 by a conclusive 19-2. Will Academy for Academic Excellence repeat their success, or does Hesperia have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
