Burbank-Jewel City 9-11 All-Stars nail down Section 2 softball title
TUJUNGA — Natalie Ascencio caught a line drive at shortstop and immediately threw the ball to first base to complete a double play.
That put an exclamation point on the championship game of the Section 2 Tournament for the Burbank-Jewel City 9-11 All-Stars softball team, which then celebrated briefly before unfurling the championship banner.
Burbank-Jewel City scored nine runs in the first inning en route to a convincing 12-1 victory against Rosamond in a game called after four innings at Tujunga Little League Fields on Monday.
“It was a great way to end the game, getting the double play,” said Ascencio, who pitched the first two innings. “I caught the ball and fired it to first and we won the championship.
“It means a lot to me and we get to keep playing.”
Burbank-Jewel City will meet the Section 9 champion in an opening-round game of the state tournament at 9 a.m. Saturday at Hesperia Community Park.
Burbank-Jewel City, the tournament’s District 16 representative, took away any possible suspense in the first inning. It batted for nearly 35 minutes and sent 13 batters to the plate.
Burbank-Jewel City took a 1-0 lead on a groundout to third by MacKenzie Meisenbach and extended the lead to 2-0 when Melody Contreras scored on a wild pitch.
Tatiyana Valenzuela followed with a two-run single to extend the lead to 4-0.
“I was a little scared coming up,” Valenzuela said. “I just wanted to get a hit there and I felt better getting the single.”
Burbank-Jewel City made it 6-0 on an error by the third baseman. A fielder’s choice by Contreras later in the inning capped the scoring in the frame.
Rosamond, the District 51 representative, scored its run in the second to cut the deficit to 9-1.
Burbank-Jewel City scored three runs in the third. Meisenbach had a run-scoring single and Burbank-Jewel City scored two runs on wild pitches.
Ascencio struck out four in two innings, while Contreras went the final two innings, striking out four.
“We didn’t come into the tournament placing a lot of high expectations [on the players],” Burbank-Jewel City manager Eddie Aceves said. “They knew how to come out and perform and it’s like another level of competition.
“They know the certain situations when batting and what they need to do. We have a team with a lot of speed and power.”
Burbank-Jewel City began the double-elimination tournament, which featured three teams, with a 19-0 win against Rosamond. Rosamond staved off elimination Sunday with a 15-12 victory against San Marino National.
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
