Mercy has been on the road for two straight, but  on Thursday they'll finally head home. They will take on the King's Academy Knights at 4:00  p.m.  on Thursday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
 Mercy is headed into the  matchup fresh off scoring the most  runs they have all season. Their pitcher stepped up to hand Castilleja  a   20-0 shutout  on Tuesday. The team's explosion at the plate also rewarded Mercy with their most commanding win of the  season.
  J Villavicencio made a big impact while hitting and pitching. She  kept things locked down with   no  earned runs or hits while striking out 11 over five innings pitched. Villavicencio has been consistent recently: she hasn't  pitched less than five  innings every time she's  pitched this season. Villavicencio was also solid in the batter's box,  scoring two  runs and  stealing a base while  getting on base  in four of her five plate appearances.
 In other batting news,  A Anderson was a standout: she scored five  runs and  stole two bases while  getting on base  in all five of her plate appearances. She has been hot recently, having posted  at least one  stolen base the last four times she's  played. Another player making a difference was  G Ortega, who  got on base  in four of her five plate appearances with two  stolen bases, three  runs,  and four  RBI.
 Meanwhile, King's Academy made easy work of Notre Dame  on Tuesday and carried off  a  12-0 win. The  victory made it back-to-back  wins for King's Academy.
 The result came thanks to  Katia Nesper's shutout, as she gave up just zero  hits and racked up eight Ks.
 At the plate,  Mia Bennette was  incredible,  going 4-for-4 with a  home run, five  RBI,  and two  runs. The team also got some help courtesy of  Izzy Barrera, who  went 2-for-3 with a  triple, two  RBI,  and a  run.
 Mercy now  has a winning record of 7-6-1. As for King's Academy, their victory was  their fourth straight at home, which  pushed their record up to 12-2.
 Both  both teams just can't seem to miss. Mercy has been making plenty of contact this season,  having  averaged 11.3  hits per game. However, it's not like King's Academy struggles in that department as   they've been averaging  only 2.7. With both teams so capable at the plate, fans should be ready for an impressive hitting performance.
 Mercy skirted past King's Academy  8-7 when the teams last played  back in May of 2023. Will Mercy repeat their success,  or does  King's Academy have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps