Crown secured

GLENDALE — After beginning the Junior Softball Tri-Cities Tournament with two straight wins, the Burbank Diamonds had to wait five days to see who their opponent would be in the championship game.

During that span, Crescenta Valley Muir-Chase was battling its way to a berth in the title contest.

It was Muir-Chase that came into Monday’s contest looking more polished, as it defeated the Diamonds to force an if-necessary championship game Tuesday.

In Tuesday’s contest at Scholl Canyon Field, the Diamonds bounced back to win the title with an 11-6 victory. It was the program’s third championship in four years.

“We weren’t happy with the way we played [Monday],” Burbank Manager Albert Hernandez said. “We wanted to come back [Tuesday] and play better. It’s nice to win the championship two years in a row.”

Prior to Monday, CV had never beaten Burbank this season. Muir-Chase Manager Wil Thayer said he is proud that his squad was able to force the if-necessary game.

“I’ve been coaching for a long time, and I’ve coached a lot of teams,” he said. “That win against Burbank was one of the highlights of my coaching career. Just to get to the game [Tuesday] was a huge accomplishment for them…I’m so proud of them.”

With the teams knotted at 4 through five innings, the Diamonds exploded for four runs in the sixth inning. They tacked on three runs in the seventh.

Burbank was paced by Kai Oasay, who was two for five with a triple and a run batted in, and Aimee Rodriguez, who was two for three with a double

“We just had to come in, be aggressive and play our game,” Hernandez said. “We did make some changes in the fifth inning that helped.”

CV received a solid outing from pitcher Hailey Cookson, who went three for four with a run batted in. Teammate Brenna Cancilla was two for two with a double.

Muir-Chase was able to come on in the later innings Monday to earn a 6-4 victory at Scholl.

With the teams tied at 1 through four innings, Muir-Chase took the lead by scoring two runs in the fifth. It added three runs in the sixth on singles by Marissa Cornelius and Cancilla.

Cancilla went three for three with a run scored and Brady Sanford was two for four with a walk and a run scored

Burbank came back to score three runs in the seventh inning to make things interesting. Hailey Beckmann had a single and Jessica Sanchez had a double in the inning, an inning in which the Diamonds brought the tying run to the plate.

Oasay was two for three with a triple and a run batted in for the Diamonds.