By Rick Assad
A Pacific League baseball game on Friday night between Burroughs High and Crescenta Valley took slightly more than three hours and wasn’t decided until the bottom of the ninth inning.
No doubt, but this game will be long remembered by those who played in it, coached in it and watched it.
The marathon clash at Stengel Field concluded at 3-2 after a bases-loaded, one-out single to right field with five infielders trying to prevent the ball from getting out of the infield.
“We ran a five-man infield trying to cut a run off at home,” Burroughs coach Matt Magallon said. “The thought process was, let’s try to get out of this if we can. But they’re a tough team and coached by a great coach [Phil Torres] and it was a great game. A classic indeed.”
With the game tied at 2-2, the Bears (18-5 and 8-2 in league) had a threat to pull ahead but failed in the top of the ninth as sophomore Slater Mersola was safe on a two-out infield hit off senior Sam Sellars, who went four and one-third innings, surrendering one hit, striking out two and hitting one batter.
Mersola then stole second and went to third base on a balk. But senior Chase Robinson bounced to second base to end the frame.
The winning run came in the bottom of the inning as Burroughs junior Ryan Walsh took over for senior Kenny Montgomery, who took over for senior Kyle Smith.
“That was a tough loss, but I believe we played exceptionally well,” Smith said. “We played great and executed our game effectively. CV is a tough team that fights until the very end.”
Smith, who went four innings and allowed seven hits with four strikeouts and four walks, added: “Despite this setback, I remain confident that we can play even better in the future and emerge stronger,” he noted.
Falcon freshman Ryan Shabazian, who singled in the third inning, led off with a walk and senior Chris Torres (two hits) reached on an infield hit that flicked off Walsh’s glove.
Senior Jimmy Spears was safe on a fielder’s choice after the throw to the third baseman for the force saw the fielder not have his foot on the bag.
Sophomore Julian Caro struck out and up came senior Dashiell Schultz, who singled twice previously, smacked an opposite-field single to right field that plated Shabazian.
Burroughs took a 1-0 lead in the fourth as senior Andrew Cosio had a one-out infield hit, stole second base and went to third on a grounder by junior Devin Whittekiend.
Junior Jack Smith then clubbed a hard-hit single to left field as Cosio scored but it was misplayed by the fielder as Smith took second and third base.
The Bears’ lead became 2-0 in the fifth inning as the Falcons (18-4 and 9-1 in league) committed two of their four errors.
Robinson led off with a single to left field, went to second base on an error and scored on another miscue.
Crescenta Valley evened it at 2-2 in the fifth as seven batters came to the plate and saw four players reach base including senior Charlie Carafotes, who singled to center field and junior Dante Cerecedes, who singled three times during the game and both crossed the plate.
“Our young guy [Shabazian] at second base played outstanding defense, and our pitcher matched their guy inning for inning,” said Torres, who helped guide the Falcons to a CIF Southern Section Division I title in 1998.
Montgomery toured four innings, fanning three, walking three and yielding three hits while Walsh went one-third of an inning and gave up two hits and had one strikeout and one walk.
Sophomore Mike Herman was the starter for the Falcons and worked four and two-third innings, striking out four and allowing four hits.
Junior Zack Guevara had a one-out single to left in the first inning but was erased on a double play off the bat of Cosio.
