By Rick Assad
Stevie Dabbadie didn’t have her best stuff in the circle for the Burroughs High softball team as evidenced by hitting three of the first eight batters she faced as two of them scored.
This put the Bears in an early deficit and when 10 batters came to the plate in the sixth inning for Camarillo, the Scorpions secured an 8-0 nonleague triumph on Monday afternoon at Olive Park.
In that frame, Laurel Piper, the left fielder, injured her head and neck after colliding with a teammate as she tried to catch a fly ball that fell for a bases clearing double.
Piper went down and was laying on her stomach as the game was halted for 15 minutes before an ambulance took the senior to the hospital for observation.
On the opposite end, senior pitcher Ainsley Berlingeri limited the hosts to two hits over six innings, striking out nine with no walks issued.
Dabbadie broke up Berlingeri’s no-hitter with a two-out base hit to right field in the fourth. The inning concluded when sophomore Chloe Centeno bounced to third base.
Dabbadie worked six innings and surrendered nine hits with one strikeout and four walks with three hit batters.
“Today just wasn’t my best and I think all I can do is learn from it,” Dabbadie said of her less than sterling outing.
Burroughs pitching coach Katie Taix said Dabbadie’s performance wasn’t typical of her ability.
“Honestly, it was one of those days. We were off. It happens to any athlete at any level,” she said. “She wasn’t overthinking, and she wasn’t nervous. Stevie has been strong for us all year.”
Senior Lilly Lewis led off the sixth frame for the Bears with a single to left field, but junior Skylar Vanole fanned swinging.
When senior Rachel Little lined to shortstop, Vanole was tagged out for a double play.
“We had a tough day at the plate and got unlucky in the way the game played out,” said Little, the catcher. “This was just a bump in the road for us and I am confident we will get back on track soon.”
Burroughs coach Doug Nicol knew just how good Camarillo is.
“It’s a great learning lesson for the girls. We never want to go through this but every year we have to go through this once or twice and I’m glad it happened against a team like Camarillo and not another team in our [Pacific] League where it will mean more,” he said. “We didn’t bring it and hopefully we’ll respond and do better next time.”
On February 18, the Bears defeated the Scorpions 5-2 in a tournament matchup.
“It was a really competitive game. We had given them everything they got, so it was frustrating from that standpoint,” Nicol said. “It stemmed from the beginning of the game. We didn’t think we warmed up really well. We have to be ready. This is Camarillo who we beat two weeks ago. Division II CIF champion just two years ago and now in Division I. You have to respect them. We knew they were going to give us their best effort and we didn’t respond.”
Burroughs (9-2) threatened to break up the shutout in the seventh inning when Centeno reached first base on a two-out infield error.
Junior Phoebe Spangler was safe on an infield single as Centeno raced to second base, but junior Alyssa Rosales hit a ball to right field for the game’s final out.
Camarillo (6-2) pulled ahead 2-0 in the second inning after Berlingeri was nicked by a Dabbadie offering.
Sophomore Delaney Vazquez came in as a pinch runner and took second base on a sacrifice bunt from junior Sammie Soto.
Junior Aubrey Aguirre was also hit by a pitch and Vazquez scored to make it 1-0 on a single to right field by senior Jazlyn Alvary.
Junior Angelina Apodaca’s sacrifice fly to left field increased the lead to 2-0.
A solo run in the third inning by the Scorpions made it 3-0 when freshman Cali Howe walked with one out and then took third base on a single by Berlingeri and scored on an error.
The sixth frame saw Apodaca single to left field for a run batted in and junior Justice Flores (two doubles) plated three runs on a double to left field. Howe added an RBI on a single to center field.
Senior Isabella Fortini collected two hits for the Scorpions, an infield hit in the fifth inning and an infield hit in the sixth.
Junior Emerson Coblentz worked one inning for Burroughs as she allowed one hit and struck out one.
Senior hurler Ava Tepesano went one frame for Camarillo and yielded one hit.
