Santa Clara and Cupertino are an even 5-5 against one another since May of 2016, but likely not for long. The Santa Clara Bruins will head out on the road to face off against the Cupertino Pioneers at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams come into the match bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Santa Clara took a loss when they played away from home two weeks ago, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Tuesday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 14-13 win over Monta Vista. The victory was a breath of fresh air for Santa Clara as it put an end to their three-game losing streak.
Chloe Boyes was incredible, scoring three runs and stealing a base while getting on base in four of her five plate appearances. Malana Dinwiddie was another key contributor, scoring a run and stealing a base while going 2-for-4.
Meanwhile, Cupertino put the finishing touches on their ninth blowout victory of the season on Tuesday. Their pitcher stepped up to hand Lynbrook an 18-0 shutout.
Shelby Apostolo and Purani Muthuvedi did most of the damage at the plate: Apostolo scored three runs while getting on base in all four of her plate appearances, while Muthuvedi went 2-for-3 with four RBI, two doubles, and a run. Another player making a difference was Aya Yangurazova, who went 2-for-2 with four RBI and two runs.
Santa Clara's win bumped their record up to 7-9. As for Cupertino, they are on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 11-4 record this season.
Santa Clara might still be hurting after the 15-2 defeat they got from Cupertino when the teams last played back in March. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Cupertino's DJ Martinez, who didn't allow a single earned run while striking out eight over six innings pitched. Now that Santa Clara 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
