By Rick Assad
Scoring in five of the six innings and with two hitters collecting seven of the 15 hits, the freshman pitcher was in secure hands as the Burroughs High softball team blanked Harvard-Westlake 8-0 in a nonleague game at Olive Park.
Senior Phoebe Spangler, who came into the game with a .741 batting average and four home runs, swatted four singles and had two runs batted in.
Junior Chloe Centeno, who entered the contest with a .438 batting average, added three hits that included a double and also chipped in with an RBI which backed freshman hurler Valentina Reyes, who went seven scoreless innings, surrendering six hits, striking out three and walking three on Tuesday.
“I think my favorite thing about today and what I am most proud of is the defense,” longtime Burroughs coach Doug Nicol said. “I thought our defense really shut them down and supported Valentina’s pitching very well. It was a total team effort today in the defense department.”
Nicol also praised the young right-handed pitcher.
“For a freshman, Valentina is really shining. It is great to have her in the circle, and her future is bright,” Nicol noted. “She is so good at pitching to our defense and hitting her spots and our defense really shined today.”
The first three batters reached base on hits for the Bears (7-3) in the first inning as junior Alyssa Morales singled to center field, sophomore Karlee Earl, who entered the game with a .424 batting average, singled to left field and senior Gizelle Rangsiyawong, who also singled to left field in the fourth inning, lined an RBI double down the left-field line for a 1-0 lead.
Two hitters later, Spangler swatted a base hit to right field that produced the second run of the frame.
In the home half of the second, Burroughs trotted six batters to the plate just like it did in the previous inning.
Senior Eliza Torres lined a base hit to right field and two batters later, Earl’s two-run double to left field increased the lead to 4-0.
Just like the first and second innings, the Bears scored two runs in the third frame and led 6-0 as senior Alyssa Rosales had an RBI single up the middle and the other run scored on an error.
The offense wasn’t done as Burroughs tacked on another run in the fourth inning to make it 7-0 on Centeno’s single to left field.
In the frame, seven batters came to the plate and three reached base on singles.
The Bears went down in order in the fifth inning, but scored a solo run in the sixth to make it 8-0 on Spangler’s single to center field that plated Centeno, who doubled down the left-field.
Freshman Alissa Cortez singled to center field in the sixth inning for the Bears but didn’t score.
Harvard-Westlake starting pitcher Morgan Hill had a tough outing after working one and two-third innings and yielding six hits.
Peyton Perriot came in and went four and one-third frames, striking out five, hitting one batter and giving up nine hits.
It wasn’t an easy afternoon for the Wolverines (2-3) but they threatened to score in the sixth and seventh innings.
Emma Tseng singled to left field in the sixth, advanced to second base on a grounder and third on a hit up the middle by Perriot.
Dylan Fischer then walked but Ainsley Nutting fouled out to first base and Jo Jo Beckerman lined out to second base.
In the seventh, Maiya Holly reached base on a one-out infield single but Fisher Hinnen grounded out and Tseng lined out to second base for the final out of the game.
