Whenever Burroughs High’s Presley Miraglia steps into the circle, she’s calm, cool and confident.
In Thursday afternoon’s CIF Southern Section Division III opening-round softball playoff match against Tesoro at Olive Park, the right-handed pitcher was all three as she tossed a complete game, two-hit shutout as the Indians blanked the Titans, 8-0.
The Indians (22-4 and 14-0 in the Pacific League) now face Irvine, which knocked off St. Paul, 5-3, in a second-round game on Tuesday at 3:15 p.m.
The only well-hit ball that Miraglia allowed came in the seventh inning off the bat of Kiana Cisneros to left field.
Miraglia then struck out Lauren Steffo, but Danielle Fettis was safe on an error as Cisneros scooted to second base.
Brittney Hill then lined to left fielder Isabel Frias for the second out and Taylor Lavin fanned for the final out.
The other hit was delivered by Cisneros with one out in the fourth inning and was of the infield variety.
Miraglia then fanned Steffo and got Fettis to fly out to Jessie Amaya in right field, who was playing for Alise Archuleta, who has an injured ankle.
“She really gave up one clean, solid hit,” Burroughs coach Doug Nicol said of his star hurler who looks forward to playing travel ball this summer. “She missed a lot of bats today. She’s really grown as a pitcher. It’s nice to see that.”
In the first inning, Miraglia struck out Rylee Argue and Hallie Goldman, but Goldman was safe on a throwing error. Miraglia then induced Cisneros and Steffo to both fly to Frias.
The second inning began with Fettis and Hill each whiffing and Lavin grounding out to second baseman Lauren Lopez.
Miraglia got Shelby Pruyne, Caitlyn Sung and Argue to ground out in the third inning.
Miraglia had a 1-2-3 fifth inning as Hill popped to Kaitlin Okimoto, the shortstop, Lavin fanned and Pruyne flied to Frias.
Miraglia worked a perfect sixth inning when Sung grounded out to Lopez. Pinch hitter Sam Hogancamp grounded to first baseman Amanda Flores and pinch hitter Maddie Heredia flied to Amaya.
“I was just focused on my pitching,” said Miraglia, who struck out eight with no walks.
When asked what pitches were working, Miraglia was quick with an answer. “My curve, drop and rise,” she said.
Miraglia was assisted by a 13-hit uprising that featured a three-run homer to left center field by Okimoto in the sixth inning.
“I liked our at-bats,” Nicol said of his high-ranked team. “I like line drives and ground balls. I don’t like fly balls.”
Okimoto also singled to left field in the first inning, stole second base and scored on Brianna Johnson’s single to right field.
“I felt pretty confident because we had a good practice yesterday,” Okimoto said. “This was a good win, but we always try to look forward.”
A second run was tacked on in the opening frame when Frias singled in pinch runner Nikki Ricciardella, who came in after Miraglia was hit with a pitch.
The Indians struck for four runs on four hits in the sixth inning that made it 8-0.
In the frame, Hannah Talavera (two singles) walked and Lopez had an infield single and both scored on Okimoto’s blast.
Johnson was safe on an infield hit and she crossed the plate on Flores’ hit to right field.
The Indians took a 3-0 lead in the second inning when Lopez singled to center field with one out, moved to second base on a fielder’s choice and came around on an error.
It became 4-0 with a solo run in the fifth inning when Johnson singled to center with one out, stole second base, advanced to third base on Frias’ grounder and came home on a single through the middle by Flores.
Brianna Devellano was safe on an infield hit in the fourth inning and advanced to second and third base, but was left stranded.
Makayla Norwood gave up seven hits with three strikeouts and two hit batters for the Titans (9-15) in three and one-third innings, while Megan Richardson went two and two-third innings and yielded six hits with two walks.
