Crescenta Valley Posts Record Win in Softball, 3-2

Crescenta Valley High took advantage of a dropped infield fly to score two runs in the fifth inning and post a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over Burbank in a first-round Southern Section 4-A Division softball playoff game Thursday at Montrose Community Park.

Crescenta Valley improved to 25-2 and set a school record for victories in a season. The Falcons won 24 games in 1986--when they won a Southern Section title--and in 1990.

Crescenta Valley, the Pacific League champion, trailed, 2-1, in the fifth and had runners at second and third with two out when Kristin Eagle popped up. The ball fell to the ground, however, allowing Kim Welsh and J. J. Cannon to score.

“We gave them a couple of runs and they gave them back,” Crescenta Valley Coach Dan Berry said.

Burbank (13-10), which finished third in the Foothill League, has suffered first-round losses in 11 consecutive years.

The Bulldogs opened the scoring in the first inning when Renata Varusa’s sacrifice fly scored Danielle Pershing.

But the Falcons countered with a run in the bottom of the inning when Carrie Shirley’s single up the middle scored Cara Campbell from third.

The Bulldogs regained the lead, 2-1, in the fourth when Beth Andriuzzo blooped a single that scored Varusa, who had reached first on a fielding error, advanced to second on another fielding error and taken third on Mandy Villasenor’s ground out.

Crescenta Valley’s Stacy Atwood (22-1) threw a four-hitter and struck out eight, increasing her season total to 235 strikeouts in 149 1/3 innings.

Atwood, a junior right-hander, did not walk a batter.

Shirley, a four-year starter at shortstop, went three for three with a double, and Cannon had two hits.