Indians offense strands too many in doubleheader loss

GLENDALE — Keeping pressure on Aliso Niguel’s pitching and defense kept the Burroughs High softball team in both games of its road doubleheader on Saturday.

Unfortunately for the Indians, a failure to fully cash in on some big opportunities kept them from winning either contest, as the squad fell, 6-1, and 4-3 in a pair of nonleague tilts.

“We had a hard time producing that one key hit that could have propelled us and that was kind of the key in both games,” Burroughs Coach Doug Nicol said. “Each time we had that chance, we just didn’t do it.”

Burroughs (8-5) trailed throughout the first game, but in the top of the sixth inning, the Indians thought they had scored two runs to take a 3-2 lead. The Wolverines successfully appealed a call at first base, though, and the two runs were taken off the board.

Aliso Niguel then put up four runs in its half of the sixth to seal the win.

“It was kind of a heartbreaker and the girls kind of came out and you could see they were a little down,” Nicol said of the turnaround. “But Aliso Niguel’s good, their pitcher pitched a good game against us.”

In a foreshadowing of things to come, the Indians left the bases loaded and stranded six total runners in that first game.

Burroughs built a 3-0 lead over the first two innings of the second game, scoring two runs in the first on a Shannon Trujillo infield hit that drove in one run, followed by a Taylor Buliavac base hit that plated another. Buliavac went three for three in the first game and two for three with a hit by pitch in the second.

In the second inning, Brice Edrington notched a base hit to plate Victoria Santos, but it was the only run the Indians would get in the frame, despite having the bases loaded with one out.

“That was kind of the key,” Nicol said. “While we were happy to get that one run, we still left the bases loaded and had a real opportunity to kind of bust the game open. We didn’t do that and we kind of just let them hang around.”

Burroughs left two on in the third inning before Aliso Niguel came back with two runs in the fourth, one in the fifth and a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the sixth to win it.

In it last at bats, Burroughs was threatening yet again, with runners at first and second and one out, but Haley Schulman’s line drive shot to third base was turned for a game-ending double play.

Schulman went the distance in the circle in the second game, limiting Aliso Niguel to two earned runs on six hits, while striking out five.