The Westlake Thunder will be staying on the road on Tuesday to face off against the Pleasant Grove Vikings at 3:30 p.m. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Westlake gave up the first runs last Friday, but they didn't let that get them down. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 7-6 victory over Cedar Valley.
Brilynn Attebery spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: she surrendered four earned (and two unearned) runs on eight hits.
On the hitting side, Ryan Pead was excellent, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-5. She has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last three times she's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Kinzie Bailey, who scored a run while getting on base in three of her four plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Pleasant Grove faced Lehi in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Thursday. Pleasant Grove put the hurt on Lehi with a sharp 16-4 win. Considering Pleasant Grove has won eight matches by more than five runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
Brooke Fisher was a standout: she went 3-for-3 with a home run, three RBI, and two runs. Grace Norman was another key contributor, going 2-for-4 with a home run, three RBI, and two runs.
Westlake has been performing well recently as they've won nine of their last 11 games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-8 record this season. As for Pleasant Grove, the victory (which was their fourth in a row) raised their record to 14-6.
Pleasant Grove's pitching crew has a crucial task ahead of them: Westlake has been making plenty of contact this season, having averaged 10 hits per game. It's a different story for Pleasant Grove, though, as they've been averaging 8.7. Given Westlake's sizable advantage in that area, Pleasant Grove will need to find a way to close that gap.
Westlake couldn't quite finish off Pleasant Grove when the teams last played on April 11th and fell 10-8. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Fisher, who scored three runs and stole a base while going 3-for-5. Now that Westlake knows the damage she can cause, will they be able to stop her this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps