By Rick Assad
Earlier this month, the Burroughs High softball team was scheduled to host Arcadia in a Pacific League game.
On that Thursday eleven days ago, the two teams tangled for three and a half innings before a heavy rain suspended the action with the Bears ahead by two runs.
Play was resumed on Monday afternoon at Olive Park and after three more frames were registered, the Bears earned a 3-0 victory behind the pitching of Valentina Reyes, who worked seven innings and yielded two singles and two walks with five strikeouts.
“First and foremost, Valentina Reyes with a shutout is huge. Her development has been fun to watch, and she is really just touching her potential,” Burroughs coach Doug Nicol said of his talented sophomore. “She’s also a great kid and so I’m happy to see her get off to such a great start in the league. She has given up one earned run in 17 innings against two of the better teams in the league.”
Burroughs mustered just five hits off Samantha Almaraz, who went six frames, fanning six, walking four and plucking one batter, but they were well placed including a two-run double from junior Karlee Earl, who is one of the hottest hitters in the league and is batting .519 with six home runs, 21 runs scored and 20 runs batted in.
Sophomore catcher Ali Cortez was steady behind home plate and was equally adept in the batter’s box after slapping a double and a single for the Bears (12-4 and 2-0 in league).
“We got timely hitting, but I would like to see us be a little bit better with our pitch selection and swing at pitches that are more in our zone,” Nicol noted. “I thought we rushed it a little bit today and swung at some pitches we probably should not have. We just need to work on our plate discipline a little bit because we have the hitters.”
Neither team was able to get on the scoreboard until the bottom of the third inning.
Cortez drilled a two-base hit to left center field to open the frame and saw freshman Haven Vickers enter as a pinch runner and she proceeded to steal third base.
Senior Alyssa Morales, who had a bloop single in the second inning, was hit by a pitch from Almaraz with one out and both runners scored on Earl’s two-bagger to right field.
Two frames later, the advantage was pushed to 3-0 on senior Chloe Centeno’s hard-hit single to left field as Morales, who walked to lead off the frame, came around and scored.
Reyes faced four batters in the first inning and allowed a two-out single to left field by Peyton Fox.
Any potential threat to score by the Apaches (8-7-1 and 1-1 in league) was squashed after Reyes induced a force out by Addy Ruiz for the third out.
“Valentina Reyes impressed me so much with her pitching,” Centeno said of her teammate.
In the next frame, Reyes pitched to three batters and allowed a one-out single to center field by Jordan Cordeiro but then fanned Cecile Crowder swinging to end the inning.
Reyes took on four batters in the third inning and only allowed a two-out walk to Nia White before Zabrina Perez tapped a grounder to second base for the final out.
The fourth inning was a 1-2-3 affair for Reyes who registered her third strikeout on Alyssa Cordeiro swinging to cap the frame.
The Apaches had something working in the fifth after Crowder was hit by a pitch with one out and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Vanessa Patino but Reyes fanned Destiny Lopez swinging.
Arcadia managed to get one batter on base in the sixth inning as Fox drew a base on balls with two out, but Ruiz bounced back to the pitcher.
Reyes mowed down the Apaches in order in the seventh inning after Alyssa Cordeiro flied out left field and Kiana Gomez lined to second base and Crowder grounded to first base.
“I like how Valentina stayed strong in the circle. The difference she has made with her pitching in the last year has been incredible to watch,” Burroughs assistant coach and pitching coach Katie Taix said. “She has more command on her pitches and she’s spinning the ball well. Ali Cortez has been a great pair with her all season.”
Nicol likes his team and envisions good things from his squad.
“We are a young team. I am so happy to watch their development because our players have put in the work for eight months,” he said. “Strength and conditioning program. Agility training. Mental training. Skills work. All when nobody was watching. Proud that others get to see the results of that hard work.”
