Bartamian helps Glendale softball rally on road past Crescenta Valley

LA CRESCENTA — Entering Tuesday’s key Pacific League contest, the Glendale High and Crescenta Valley softball teams were battling for second place.

Tiffany Bartamian supplied a steady dose of offense, as the catcher hit a home run, drove in four runs and scored three times to lift visiting Glendale to a 13-8 win.

Glendale (15-4, 9-2 in league) pulled a game ahead of Crescenta Valley (12-11, 8-3). The teams will meet again at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Glendale. Glendale trails Burroughs by two games with three games remaining.

“It’s definitely a big deal to come on the road and get that first win,” said Bartamian, who hit a solo home run in the seventh to provide an exclamation point for the Nitros. “We’ve been practicing hard and it’s paid off.

“It’s a confidence boost going into Thursday.”

Glendale overcame a 7-4 deficit in the fourth inning and never looked back.

Glendale also received a strong performance from reliever Aurora Funaro, who allowed just one run in 4 2/3 innings. Funaro struck out three and limited the Falcons to four hits.

“It’s nice to take that first one, especially on the road because this is a very tough place to play,” said Glendale Coach Greg Martin, who got four hits and four runs from standout Sammy Fabian, who extended her hitting streak to 61 with a lead-off double in the first. “It’s something to build on and now we’ll look to take the next one at our place, where our girls are confident and comfortable playing.

“Tiffany stepped up and had a big game and Aurora got some big outs in relief.”

A sacrifice fly to left by Bartamian gave the Nitros a 1-0 lead in the first. In Crescenta Valley’s half of the first, Jessica Yzaguirre led off with a home run to tie it at 1. Sydnee Wells had a run-scoring single to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead in the second. The Falcons then scored a run on a wild pitch to make it 3-1 and a fielder’s choice lifted the lead to 4-1 later in the inning. Alyssa Hernandez followed with a run-scoring double to make it 5-1.

Glendale responded in the third with three runs. Bartamian had an RBI single to make it 5-2. The Nitros then scored runs on errors by the second baseman and center fielder to slice the lead to 5-4.

Crescenta Valley received a two-run single from Kendal Ebert to take a 7-4 lead in the third.

Funaro came on to replace starter Jordan Lousararian with one out and runners on first and second before escaping the jam and turning the tide in favor of the Nitros.

The Nitros then picked up the pace the remainder of the contest.

Glendale got a run-scoring single by Bartamian to make it 7-5 before Grace Sinisterra (four hits) followed with an RBI double to pull to within 7-6.

Esme Piedra of Glendale tied it at 7 with a sacrifice fly to deep center field. Alex Howard followed with a two-run single to give Glendale a 9-7 lead. An error by the left fielder made it 10-7 and a run-scoring single by Sinisterra widened the lead to 11-7.

Fabian had a run-scoring double to make it 12-7 in the sixth. Crescenta Valley closed to within 12-8 in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Paige Baker.

Glendale collected 17 hits, including two from Lousararian.

“We’ve been getting off to good starts the last three games, but we just aren’t finishing,” Crescenta Valley Coach Amanda Peek said. “We need to do that on offense and defense.

“We’re going to need people to step up in the next game. We have to be ready and prepared to play much better.”

The Falcons finished with 14 hits, including three from Yzaguirre and two apiece from Hernandez, Vivianna Sandvall and Baker.