Crescenta Valley softball rallies for Pacific League championship
For the first time since 2011, a share of the Pacific League softball crown will reside in La Crescenta.
That’s because Crescenta Valley High twice rallied from two-run deficits and never lost faith in unflappable pitcher Emily Mulcahey to defeat visiting archrival Arcadia, 6-4, in Thursday afternoon’s season finale.
The victory clinched the Falcons (20-7-1, 12-2 in league) a tie with now reigning three-time champ Burroughs (19-8, 12-2), which beat Burbank, 6-0, on Thursday. Regardless, Crescenta Valley will enter next week’s CIF Southern Section Division III playoffs as the league’s top seed since Burroughs competes in Division I.
For Crescenta Valley Coach Amanda Peek, who won league titles in 2003 and 2004 as a player and returned to campus to lead her Falcons back to glory, Thursday afternoon was a long time coming.
“It’s awesome, this feels awesome,” Peek said. “Being here my two years, there’s a lot of history and a lot of pride in being a Falcon. For us to add a banner after 2011 is awesome. I’m proud of my girls.”
Arcadia (16-6-1, 10-4) entered Thursday’s affair with an outside chance to claim a share and made its final push in the top of the seventh down, 6-4.
The Apaches committed four errors, but were the beneficiary of a Falcons’ gaffe when pinch-hitter Brianna Carino reached on an error.
The mistake not only put Carino on, but brought Arcadia back to the top of the lineup with no outs.
The Apaches trio of lead-off batter Hermay Mathiew, Deja Westbrook and Jannelle Ha were five for eight versus Mulcahey with a home run, three runs batted in and two runs scored up to that point.
Despite her previous struggles, Mulcahey finished strong and induced three straight infield outs with the final out coming on a soft liner snagged by shortstop Alyssa Hernandez that led to a dog pile near the circle.
“It felt good at the end to be able to get those outs and know that my whole team was behind me,” said Mulcahey, who allowed four runs on seven hits with six strikeouts. “I knew I had to bear down and that they had my back and it’s amazing to get a banner.
For a while, Mulcahey appeared on the rocks.
Westbrook opened the game two batters in with a monster two-run homer to left as the Apaches led, 2-0, after a half-inning.
Arcadia added two more runs in the second inning keyed on an infield single from Mathiew and three wild pitches from Mulcahey.
Though Mulcahey surrendered four runs in two innings, the junior was stout the rest of the contest in scattering two hits over five scoreless innings.
Offensively, Crescenta Valley answered in both the first and second innings.
The Falcons tied the contest at 2 with two runs in the first inning thanks to some alert base-running.
Hernandez (two hits and two runs) and Jessica Yzaguirre (two runs and one RBI) singled to begin the first inning. Each advanced a base on a sacrifice bunt and both scored on a groundout to third by Maddie De Leon in which Arcadia’s first baseman did not notice Yzaguirre motor home from second base.
Arcadia led, 4-2, going to the bottom of the second, but the Falcons exploded for four runs on four hits.
Mulcahey connected on a one-out solo homer to bring her team within 4-3.
After Arcadia registered an out, Natalie Bitetti reached base via an error and then moved to second on another error.
The mistakes were followed by three straight singles from Hernandez, Yzaguirre and Peyton Hause that plated three runs as Hernandez and Yzaguirre moved to second base on their singles on relays to the plate.
“I was confident in my team in this game because of all the work we did,” Yzaguirre said. “Arcadia came out to fight, but we were ready to punch back. We trusted in Emily to get us through and we stayed strong on offense.”
