Burroughs on road, Burbank at home to begin CIF softball playoffs
After jumping to CIF Southern Section Division I in 2017, the Burroughs softball team had a quick exit in the first round of the playoffs.
The Indians are back down in Division III this season striving for a better postseason showing.
The Indians will be looking for their first postseason victory in two seasons when they open the playoffs at 3:15 p.m. Thursday with a first-round game on the road at Bonita.
Also making the playoffs is Burbank, which will host Norwalk at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday at McCambridge Park for a Division IV wild-card contest.
Burroughs (13-5-1) enters the playoffs after placing second in the Pacific League behind champion Crescenta Valley.
The Indians lost a chance to tie for their fourth straight league championship when they were defeated by cross-town rival Burbank, 4-3, in the regular season finale Thursday.
“After the loss [Thursday], our girls are going to have to regroup and they have to get their heads together to be ready for the playoffs,” Burroughs coach Wes Tanigawa said. “We are going to have to come out strong and if we don’t, the exact thing [as last year] is going to happen.”
Bonita (15-9), from La Verne, comes into the postseason after finishing second in the Palomares League behind South Hills.
A win by the Indians would put them into the second round May 22 where they would face No. 3 seed Redlands East Valley (20-7, Citrus Belt League No. 2) or Silverado (14-9, Desert Sky League No. 2).
In the 2017 playoffs, Burroughs was eliminated in the Division I first round by Oaks Christian, 7-1.
Burbank (16-11), fresh from its win against Burroughs, placed third in the Pacific League and returns to the playoffs after not qualifying in 2017.
“At this point, you’re just trying to do what you’ve been doing the last few weeks and if you have never faced the team before it’s hard to know a lot about what they do and you just have to do what you do,” Burbank coach Mike Delaney said. “I think the girls will be up for it. I think we’re hitting the ball pretty well, we have been making good contact and we’ve gotten decent pitching, so hopefully we will be ready. I think we are peaking at the right time now.”
Norwalk (7-9) finished fourth in the Suburban League.
If the Bulldogs are successful Tuesday they will move on to the first round Thursday where they will take on Temescal Canyon (17-7), which won the Sunbelt League championship.
Twitter: @jefftsports
