Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t.
The Burroughs High softball team, attempting to make it’s first CIF Southern Section championship game appearance had moments to be proud of Saturday afternoon when the Bears hosted Temple City High at Valley Park.
Unfortunately, there were not enough of them, as the visiting Rams, led by sophomore pitcher Kassandra Gewecke, had just a little too much in a 7-2 Division 4 semifinal victory.
“We just gave them too many things. I thought we hit her well. We probably could have used a few more timely hits,” Burroughs Coach Doug Nicol said. “I thought the girls played great, but we made a few errors here and there and it set us back. But I’m proud of the girls for how they fought back. They never quit.”
Temple City (24-6) scored in the first inning as Samantha Womack reached on an error and scored two batters later when Mikala Sanchez hit a bloop double into shallow right field.
Burroughs (22-11) fought back in the bottom half of the inning as three runners reached base and two were left stranded.
Womack surprised everyone to start the third inning as she belted a home run over the fence and against the netting in left field.
Melanie Platon followed with a triple as Temple City put up two more runs before the end of the inning to go up 4-0. Kelsey Acosta came on in relief of starting pitcher Stevie Dabbadie to finish the inning.
Burroughs, which got nine hits off of Gewecke, quickly got things going in the third inning.
Acosta led off with a walk. Rachel Little followed with the first of three doubles she had. She finished 4 for 4. Acosta scored on the double, but Little was taken off the base paths as she was called out trying to stretch the play into a triple.
Dabbadie then singled and Gigi Garcia walked. Two batters later Gizelle Rangsiyawong reached on an infield single, loading the bases.
Kiley Christopher then singled to score pinch runner Arley Pena. But Gewecke was able to pull herself back together to get out of the inning.
Temple City scored three more times in the sixth inning paced by a two-run single from Sanchez.
Burroughs put two runners aboard in the seventh inning, but it was too late against a tough Temple City team that did not make any errors.
“(Kassandra) is a phenomenal pitcher. I think when she pitches she gives you everything she has. She is so competitive. She does so well on the mound that a lot of people forget we’re a good fielding team,” Temple City coach Eric Arreola said. “I grind them and hit them a lot of balls in practice so I know they are capable of making those plays and I think that’s what allows (Kassandra) to pitch so well too because she knows they’ve got her back.”
