The Burbank Little League Majors All-Star softball team is headed back to the Western Regionals for a second straight year.
Burbank defeated Westchester Del Rey 13-1 Friday night in Colton to win the Southern California State Division 3 title.
Burbank moves on to the Little League Western Region finals in San Bernardino starting Friday.
“Our goal was to get to where we’re at,” coach Rocco Buffolino, a former minor league baseball player said. “Now that we’ve made it this far, we’d like to make it to Portland. Everyone here are winners. If we play the way we do when we’re relaxed, we’ve got as good a chance as anyone to win.”
Burbank already captured the District 16 title, followed by the Sectional title, before taking the Southern California title.
In San Bernardino, Burbank will face opposition from Idaho, Hawaii and Northern California in pool play.
Buffolino likes his team’s chances.
“We’re very interchangeable,” he said. “We have a lot of athletic kids. It is easy to move them around.”
The team has four pitchers in Annie Buffolino, Alyssa Valenzuela, Kelsey Acosta and Calista Lee.
Also on the team are Kaelyn Freed, Clarissa Robles, Makenna Palamara, Makaiya Beford, Lizzy Zamora, Sofie Smith, Mallory CIbort and Isabella Scozzola.
