Sutter, East Nic meet Wednesday: Spartans unbeaten coming into showcase with Huskies

Two of the most accomplished small schools in the mid-valley meet up on the softball diamond Wednesday in a nonleague out of section battle at Sutter Union High.

The Huskies of the Sac-Joaquin Section, host Northern Section power and two-time NorCal finalist East Nicolaus in a single-game at 4:30 p.m. Both squads are again stacked with East Nicolaus unbeaten at 11-0 and No. 2 in the NSCIF overall poll put together by MaxPreps twice-a-week.

The Spartans are led by a plethora of .400-plus hitters, while Kylah Glenn is 10-0 in the circle. Makinze Massey will provide senior leadership for East Nicolaus as a multi-sport star and one who is committed to play softball and volleyball at Cosumnes River College, according to assistant coach and East Nicolaus Superintendent Neil Stinson.

Massey is hitting .321 on the year in 40 plate appearances for East Nicolaus.

For Sutter, the NorCal champ from two seasons ago is led by a sophomore at the plate. Liliana Speakman is hitting .566 in 64 PA and four homers. Brooklyn Murphey has eight wins in the circle in over 70 innings pitched for Sutter.

Wednesday marks the start of a difficult stretch for a Sutter team trying to hang on to its top-3 position in the Golden Empire League. The Huskies are a half-game up on Rio Linda after its 20-17 loss at Dixon. Up next is back-to-back three-game weeks that include East Nicolaus and the No. 1 team in the Sac-Joaquin Section, Destiny Christian Academy. DCA is unbeaten behind LSU commit Ayla Tuua, who has allowed just one earned run in over 40 innings with 81 strikeouts to just 19 walks for the Lions. The first time around against Sutter, Tuua struck out 17 over seven innings while allowing two hits and no runs to beat Sutter, 4-0. Paytyn Schamanski had the only hits for the Huskies against Tuua.

Tuua is 6-0 with a 0.17 ERA through Thursday’s games.

Other area games

– SJS D-III No. 5 River Valley lost its second straight where it allowed double-digit runs in a 13-3 loss to Twelve Bridges on Thursday. The Falcons sit a half-game back of Yuba City for the third and final automatic berth into the postseason ahead of its road tilt at second place Roseville Tuesday.

– Yuba City’s Taylorlyn Anderson and Maddison Stead each had two hits in a 6-1 loss to Nevada Union, dropping YC to 4-3 in the Foothill Valley League. Up next is the top-two teams in the league capped by FVL leader and D-IV top-5 Del Campo on Tuesday at YCHS.

The rest of the schedule includes Placer (April 28) and Twelve Bridges (April 30) at home; followed by River Valley on the road May 5 to close out the regular season.