Looking to shake off her earlier struggles, Stevie Dabbadie found an ideal opportunity.
The Burroughs High softball pitcher encountered a rough beginning in the circle before redeeming herself with the bat in a pressure-packed situation.
Dabbadie registered a go-ahead bases-loaded double in the fifth inning to help Burroughs overcome a huge deficit en route to a 9-4 Pacific League victory against Crescenta Valley on Tuesday at Olive Park.
Burroughs (19-9, 8-5 in league) scored six runs in the inning to build an 8-4 lead and record its first win this season against Crescenta Valley (18-9, 10-2).
Dabbadie doubled down the left-field line with one out off Crescenta Valley pitcher Perri Deriah to help the Bears, who are ranked sixth in CIF Southern Section Division IV, rally from a 4-0 deficit.
“We didn’t let being down 4-0 keep us down,” said Dabbadie, who yielded eight hits and struck out four in 6 2/3 innings. “There’s a lot of pressure coming into the game and we had a real good chance to make a comeback.
“I had to relax and trust myself with that at-bat. I got the hit and we could feel things turn around for us.”
Crescenta Valley, which is tied for first with Arcadia with one game remaining in the regular season, took a 2-0 lead in the third on a two-run double by Isabella Jamgotchian. The Falcons made it 3-0 in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk by Dabbadie to Hayley Neale, followed by a sacrifice fly by Lily Hinkle to extend the lead to 4-0.
Burroughs scored two runs in the fourth to trim the lead to 4-2. Isabella Scozzola and Gizelle Rangsiyawong had back-to-back run-scoring singles.
The Bears sent 10 batters to the plate in the fifth. Kelsey Acosta, Mia Ramirez and Rachel Little singled with one out before Dabbadie’s double made it 5-4. Later in the inning, Gigi Garcia had a run-scoring single to extend the lead to 6-4 before Pangsiyawong had a two-run double to give the Bears, who will finish in third in league, an 8-4 advantage.
“We’ve been working on situational hitting at practice the last few days,” said Rangsiyawong, who finished with two hits. “We were able to come through in some of those situations today. We just want to finish up strong and be ready for the playoffs.”
Ramirez closed out the scoring in the sixth with a sacrifice fly.
Veteran Burroughs coach Doug Nicol said the Bears wanted to regroup following a 4-2 loss Thursday against cross-town rival Burbank.
“We just wanted to get back on track,” said Nicol, whose team collected 11 hits Tuesday. “Adversity is only temporary. We had some early and we battled back.”We were able to get some big hits when we needed them and we like where we are at.”
Little, Acosta and Scozzola had two hits apiece for Burroughs, which lost its first two meetings against Crescenta Valley by scores of 4-0 and 8-5.
Burroughs will wrap up the regular season against Burbank at 6 p.m. Thursday at McCambridge Park.
