By Rick Assad
In a softball game that likely decided the Pacific League champion, it featured four combined home runs and saw the hosts get within three defensive outs of clinching a win.
It also witnessed a stunning and dramatic four-run, five-hit seventh inning rally by Burroughs High which proved to be the elixir to slip past Crescenta Valley 7-5 on Tuesday afternoon.
The Bears had twice as many hits as the Falcons, 12-6, and also delivered the key blows when they were needed the most.
That incredible seventh frame for the Bears (17-4 and 5-0 in league) began when senior Skylar Vanole sliced a double down the right-field line.
Junior Alyssa Morales (two hits that included a double) delivered a run-scoring single to left center, senior Gizelle Rangsiyawong added a run batted in single to center field and senior Alyssa Rosales tossed in a run-producing grounder.
Junior Chloe Centeno singled to right field and senior Phoebe Spangler, who had a single in the second inning, also singled in the inning.
Longtime Burroughs coach Doug Nicol isn’t surprised at late rally.
“That has really been the way this team has operated all year. We can go a couple of innings without scoring runs and then all of a sudden, we explode,” he said. “We exploded in the seventh inning, and it was awesome to see. Our backs were against the wall, and the type of character kids we have shown at the end with their comeback.”
Nicol said the team could have scored earlier in the game except for bad luck.
“I thought we hit some balls well early in the game, but it just seemed like we kept hitting it right at people. We just kept plugging away and this team has so much fight and never gives up,” he noted. “It is really the culture of our program. These girls do not give up until the final out. I’m so proud of each and every girl.”
Crescenta Valley junior Hannah Wyroski belted two homers and added a single and finished with five RBIs.
Emerson Coblentz tossed a gritty and effective seven innings for Burroughs and kept the game close.
The senior right-hander went seven innings and surrendered six hits with five strikeouts and five walks.
“Emerson today showed how tough she truly is. She has grown so much since the first game this season,” Burroughs pitching coach and assistant coach Katie Taix said. “The two home runs were good pitches and I tip my hat off to the CV kid who hit them, but Emerson had a fantastic game. She hit her spots and really put a lot of spin on the ball. Her catcher, Alyssa Rosales, really helped her today.”
Coblentz’s counterpart, senior Perri Derian, who is coming off an ankle injury from last season, went six frames and allowed seven hits with four strikeouts.
Junior Carley Mulcahey worked one inning and gave up five hits with one hit batter for Crescenta Valley.
The Falcons (9-10 and 4-1 in league) scored in the first inning as Coblentz, who will play softball for the University of Hawaii, faced seven batters.
Junior Alexa Johnson, the speedy leadoff hitter, slapped an opposite-field single to left field. Johnson also doubled to center field in the seventh inning and tagged up and went to third base but didn’t score.
Coblentz uncorked a pair of wild pitches that sent Johnson to second and third base and junior Mila Reddy, who walked, advanced to second base on a wild pitch.
When Wyroski reached on a hard-hit infield single, both runners crossed the plate.
The Bears cut into the lead 2-1 in the fourth inning when Rosales lifted an offering from Derian over the center field wall for a solo blast.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Falcons extended the advantage to 3-1 on Wyroski’s fence-clearing home run to left field.
The back-and-forth affair was tied at 3-3 in the top of the fifth inning when sophomore Karlee Earl homered to center field that plated Rosales, who doubled to left field with two out.
It became 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth when Wyroski’s homer down the left-field line scored sophomore Reese Fontanilla, who came in as a pinch runner for Derian, who walked to lead off the inning.
“It was a team effort. Also, I tip my hat off to coach Doug. He has done a fantastic job at practices getting this team ready for these games,” Taix added. “He’s built such a great team and culture.”
Freshman Sophie Rangsiyawong was safe on an infield single in the second inning for the Bears and advanced to second base but didn’t score.
