Burroughs softball’s historic season ends in CIF semifinals

BURBANK — Burroughs High’s softball team was looking to continue its historic season and earn a spot in its first-ever CIF Southern Section championship when it took on Grand Terrace in a Division III semifinal game Tuesday afternoon.

However, standing in the Indians’ way was a No. 1-seeded team stacked with talent, including 12 players who are headed to Division I colleges, had a lengthy winning streak and had lost just once this season.

Grand Terrace was aggressive at the plate, solid on defense and received a fine effort from its starting pitcher. All that added up to an insurmountable situation for Burroughs, which saw its season come to an end with a 7-0 loss at Olive Park.

“I am proud of every single one of my teammates because they made this season such a success and we were able to do something that had never been done before,” Burroughs senior shortstop Kaitlin Okimoto said. “We are all family and we all did this together. I’m just so happy with what we were able to accomplish.”

The Indians, who won their second straight Pacific League championship, ended the campaign with a 24-5 record. The semifinal appearance was the deepest Burroughs has advanced in the playoffs in program history.

Grand Terrace (26-1), the Sunkist League champion which has won 25 straight games, moved on to the Division III championship game Saturday where it will face Redondo Union, which upset No. 2 Bishop Amat, 1-0, in a semifinal Tuesday. The Titans, who lost in the 2015 Division III championship game against La Serna, 5-4, have not allowed a run in their four playoff games, outscoring their opponents, 32-0.

“We have never seen a team that hit like they did,” Burroughs Coach Doug Nicol said. “We have played against some really good teams this season: Santa Margarita, El Segundo, Royal and some other teams. But one through nine, this is the best team we’ve faced. There is nowhere in their lineup where you get a break. Usually with any team you play against, you get a break somewhere in the lineup, but not with them.

“They swing it hard, they are all really good and they’re technically sound and you can tell they are well-coached. It’s tough to get anything going against a team like that and they got us today.”

University of Oklahoma-bound starting pitcher Melanie Olmos shut down the Indians offense. The senior right-hander allowed just two hits and four total base runners in 5 1/3 innings. In addition, Olmos struck out five. Relief pitcher Yesenia Morrison, a junior, struck out three and didn’t allow a hit in 1 2/3 innings.

Against the Titans hurlers, the Indians were able put only five runners on base.

“It all starts in the circle for us,” said Grand Terrace assistant coach Javier Olmos. “We have two of the top pitchers in the nation who play for top organizations in travel ball. They were really able to shut their bats down. Our pitchers really got the job done.

“We did our homework on this team and [Burroughs] is a very good hitting team and they are very aggressive. But our pitchers were able to shut them down.”

The Indians received a single to center field by junior first baseman Amanda Flores in the second inning and a triple down the right-field line in the third by sophomore center fielder Hannah Talaveria.

Burroughs’ best chance to score came in the third inning after Talaveria tripled with one out. Olmos then induced a fly to shortstop for the second out. Okimoto followed and had a quality at-bat in a 10-pitch effort in which she fouled off five pitches. However, Okimoto flew out to first to end the threat.

Talaveria was the only Burroughs base runner to move into scoring position in the game.

Grand Terrace struck first in the top of the first inning by pushing across one run on a single to left field by junior first baseman Morgan Parsons (two for four with three runs batted in).

The Titans made it 3-0 with two runs in the third inning.

Parsons blasted an inside-the-park home run with a runner on in the fifth inning and Grand Terrace tacked on two more runs in the seventh to increase its advantage to 7-0.

“That’s a great team and there’s no shame in losing to a team like that,” Nicol said. “The effort was there, we just knew we would have to play a near-perfect game to win it.

“I’m proud of our girls. ...They made history at Burroughs and they did something no other softball players have done in our program. They have a lot to be proud of.”