Porras pitches Burbank softball to rout of Glendale
GLENDALE — Everything was working for the Burbank High softball team Tuesday afternoon in its Pacific League game against Glendale.
With pitcher Alyssa Porras silencing the Nitros’ bats, the Bulldogs’ offense sprung to life and their defense was steady.
Unfortunately for Glendale, it struggled on offense as well as in the field.
With Porras throwing an abbreviated no-hitter, the Bulldogs rolled to an 11-0 six-inning victory against the host Nitros.
With the win, Burbank (9-7, 5-2 in league), which didn’t qualify for the playoffs in 2017, broke a tie for third place in league with Glendale (11-4-1, 4-3).
The Bulldogs came into Tuesday’s game motivated by a 1-0 loss to rival Burroughs on Thursday.
“I wanted them to come into this game ticked off after losing to Burroughs,” Burbank coach Mile Delaney said. “We wanted to motivate them after that loss.”
In six innings, Porras struck out seven, walked two and let only one Nitros baserunner get to second base.
“What I challenged Alyssa with today was to come out with the same intensity that she did against Burroughs,” Delaney said. “She is still learning to pitch but she is getting there and she is doing a phenomenal job.”
The closest Glendale came to getting a hit was in the sixth inning. With one out, Esme Piedra hit a sharp grounder to Katie Treadway at shortstop. Treadway lunged to her left, dove for the ball, got up and fired to first, just nipping Piedra.
“When we hit and play like we did today, that just helps me not worry about things so I can just go out there and pitch,” Porras said. “I know we have some good hitters and I know they will be able to get the runs.”
Burbank had 12 hits on the day, including four extra-base hits.
The Bulldogs jumped put to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Amaya Broyles (three for four with a double, two runs batted in and two runs scored) bunted for a single and Sarah Garelick reached on a fielder’s choice. Broyles was plated by a sacrifice fly to left field by Erin Lashkari (double, two RBI) and Garelick scored on a throwing error.
Macie Jensen (two for four with three runs scored) tripled to lead off the third and scored on a bloop single to right-center field by Anysia Gonzalez (two for four with a run and three RBI) to make it 3-0.
Burbank scored another run on an error and Broyles drove in two runs with a double to left in the fourth to increase the Bulldogs’ advantage to 6-0.
“We are a very young team and this is just us; some games we play error-free and some games we make lots of errors,” Glendale coach Chris Funaro said. “For us, when we have one error it compounds to two, three, four, five and six and it goes from there.
“Burbank is a good team and give them credit, but that score shouldn’t have been what it was.”
The Bulldogs made it 7-0 in the fifth inning with a run-scoring infield single by Treadway.
Burbank tacked on four more runs in the sixth for an 11-0 advantage. The big hits in the inning were a two-RBI single to right by Gonzalez and a double down the left-field line by Laskari that scored one.
Kylee Lousararian and Alyssa Wilson had walks for Glendale.
For Burbank, Alex Davis was two for four with a double, triple and two runs scored.
Twitter: @jefftsports
