The St. Joseph Notre Dame Pilots are taking a road trip to challenge the Saint Mary's Panthers at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, these teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Saint Mary's will be up against a hot St. Joseph Notre Dame team: the squad just extended their winning streak to three. Everything went the Pilots' way against California School for the Deaf on Wednesday as they made off with a 12-2 win. The result was nothing new for the Pilots, who have now won seven contests by ten runs or more so far this season.
Cassandra Sanchez made a big impact while hitting and pitching. She looked comfortable on the mound, striking out ten batters over five innings while giving up just one earned (and one unearned) run off four hits (and only one walk). She has been consistent recently: she hasn't given up more than one earned run in three consecutive appearances. She was also big at the plate, scoring three runs and stealing a base while going 2-for-2.
In other batting news, Ella Schwartz and Alana Sadie did most of the damage at the plate: Schwartz scored three runs and stole two bases while going 3-for-3, while Sadie went 1-for-2 with one home run and two RBI. That's the most stolen bases Schwartz has posted since back in May of 2024. Another player making a difference was Reagan Bowman, who scored a run while going 1-for-3.
St. Joseph Notre Dame was getting hits left and right and finished the game having posted a batting average of .440. They are a perfect 5-0 when they post a batting average of .375 or better.
Meanwhile, Saint Mary's made easy work of De Anza on Monday and carried off a 19-9 victory. With that win, the Panthers brought their scoring average up to 7.3 runs per game.
London Crawford was incredible, going 4-for-5 with one home run, four runs, and five RBI. That home run was her first of the season. The team also got some help courtesy of Aoife Shen, who scored three runs and stole three bases while getting on base in four of her five plate appearances.
St. Joseph Notre Dame's record is now 8-4. As for Saint Mary's, the victory was their first at home , bumping their record up to 2-5.
Saint Mary's hitters will have their work cut out for them on Tuesday. St. Joseph Notre Dame has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 8.1 strikeouts per game. It's a different story for Saint Mary's, though, as they've been averaging only 2.4 strikeouts. Will St. Joseph Notre Dame keep running through batters, or will the Panthers buck the trend?
St. Joseph Notre Dame skirted past Saint Mary's 7-5 in their previous matchup back in March of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for the Pilots since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
