By Rick Assad
Two impressive streaks were on the line when the Burroughs High softball team squared off with Crescenta Valley at Olive Park.
After an hour and a half, both were vanquished in a 4-0 Pacific League loss on Tuesday afternoon.
Coming in, the Bears had a 10-game winning streak and also posted six straight shutouts.
Burroughs (10-3 and 2-1 in league) managed four hits overall with two singles coming from junior Stevie Dabbadie.
The other hits came off the bat of senior Gigi Garcia and senior Kiley Christopher.
Garcia’s single to left field opened the second inning, but Dabbadie lifted a fly ball to center field.
Christopher popped to second base and sophomore Gizelle Rangsiyawong’s liner to left closed the inning.
In the seventh for the Bears, senior Isabella Scozzola popped to second base and Garcia lined to center field.
Acosta reached on an infield single and raced to third base on Christopher’s base hit to right center.
The game was wrapped up when Rangsiyawong hit a fly ball to center field.
Sophomore Perri Derian tossed a complete game for the Falcons and struck out five.
Derian’s opposite number was senior Kelsey Acosta, who also ventured seven innings, but allowed eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts.
Two errors were committed by the Bears, while the Falcons played error-free.
Of the 21 outs made by the Bears, 14 were balls hit into the hair, while two were hit on the ground and five were strikeouts.
“It’s hard to beat a good team when you don’t have many quality at-bats and we didn’t have quality at-bats today,” Burroughs coach Doug Nicol pointed out. “I thought that we were hitting her pitches and I don’t think that we really had a plan when we went up there. But for some reason, I don’t know if the girls were overanxious today and I don’t know if they were nervous or what, but we put together at-bats that we have haven’t put together all year.”
Nicol went on: “But we’ll learn from this and get better. You can’t hit balls in the air. We have to hit line drives and ground balls,” Nicol said. “Because those line drives and ground balls turn into gappers.”
Crescenta Valley (7-6 and 3-0 in league) struck for a solo run in the first inning when it seemed the home plate umpire’s strike zone was a little fuzzy.
The frame began when junior Lily Hinkle laced a triple to left field and when sophomore Jaiden Sabelis blooped a single to right field, Hinkle, who went three for three with an intentional walk in the sixth inning, trotted home for the first run.
Senior Isabelle Jamgotchian was safe on an error and after freshman Mila Reddy was out on an infield fly rule, Acosta retired senior Lauren Curtis on a popup to shortstop, but then walked junior Hayley Neale.
The inning came to a close when sophomore Haley Krohn popped up to third base.
Crescenta Valley took command 2-0 in the second inning when Hinkle blistered a two-out homer to center field.
The Falcons marched ahead 4-0 with a two-run, four-hit fifth as the first four batters all reached base on singles.
Sophomore Anais Ocoha was safe on an infield hit and Hinkle smacked a single up the middle.
Sabelis followed with a base hit to right field and Jamgotchian’s single to right brought in a run to make it 3-0.
The final tally of the frame and the game was registered when Reddy’s sacrifice fly to left field plated a run for a 4-0 edge.
“I challenged the girls. We think we know what they’re made of, but we’ll find out with the way they respond,” Nicol said. “We got punched in the face today and we haven’t gotten punched in the face in a long time. We didn’t respond but I hope the next time we’re punched in the face, we punch them in the face. Not literally.”
Four of the seven innings that Derian worked were 1-2-3 affairs and they began in the initial stanza.
Sophomore Mia Ramirez popped to first base, junior Rachel Little lofted a fly to left field and Scozzola fanned looking.
In the bottom of the third, Chrysikos popped to third base and Acosta grounded to first base. The inning concluded when Ramirez struck out with the catcher throwing to first base.
The fourth inning saw Little foul out to second base and Scozzola whiffed swinging. Garcia was called out on strikes to cap the frame.
The sixth inning had Acosta bounce to third base and Ramirez lined to right field. When Little struck out swinging, the inning was over.
