Burroughs’ softball’s Miraglia named to all-state team
Whether it was in the circle as Burroughs High’s ace pitcher or at the plate as one of the team’s top hitters, Presley Miraglia did it all for the Indians softball team during the 2016 season.
With her success during an excellent sophomore campaign, Miraglia was bestowed with her share of accolades.
She was named the Pacific League Player of the Year. When it came time for Southern Section awards, the right-hander was honored as a first-team selection in Division III.
Miraglia added another award to her mantle recently when she was named by Cal-Hi Sports as an all-state second-team medium schools pitcher.
“When I was just a little kid, I would have never even dreamed about winning an award like this,” Miraglia said. “I’m always happy to win any award, but something like this is just awesome.
“When I win an award, I really appreciate it and it really helps to show me that all the hard work that I’ve put in is paying out. It really makes me want to work even harder to get better.”
With Miraglia leading Burroughs with her contributions in the circle, she led the Indians to a record-breaking season. Burroughs went 25-4 and won its second consecutive Pacific League title with a 14-0 record.
“For her to make all-state is just awesome,” said Doug Nicol, who stepped down as Burroughs coach earlier in July. “It’s just a huge honor to be considered alongside the best players in the state. She was tops in our division and you can make a point that Southern California is just about the top region in softball in America. So she was able to dominate on that level.
“She deserves the awards that she gets and Presley has worked hard to earn those awards.”
In the playoffs, Miraglia also proved her worth, as the Indians advanced to the CIF semifinals for the first time in program history.
“There’s no doubt that without Presley we don’t win the league championship,” Nicol said. “And if we didn’t have her there’s no way that we get as far as we did in the playoffs.
“Presley really matured as a pitcher from her freshman to sophomore seasons and you could really see the difference this past season. She was just more confident out there and she didn’t get as rattled.”
Miraglia proved to be the top pitcher in the Division III Southern Section as far as wins, according to Maxpreps.com, ending the season with a 25-4 record and was tied for second in the Southern Section. In addition, her 183 strikeouts were No. 3 in the division and 12th in the Southern Section.
Miraglia had a 1.50 earned-run average over 158 1/3 innings and walked just 20.
Miraglia also did well at the plate, batting .310 (27 for 87) with 16 runs batted in, three doubles, two triples and two home runs.
“My goal for this past season was to be better than last year,” Miraglia said. “I just tried to do my best to be a better player and improve as much as I could. My pitching coach told me that I should try and increase my strikeouts this year and just focus on my pitches and my movement.
“I just tried to improve every part of my game. It feels just as good to strike someone out as it does to get a big hit.”
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Jeff Tully, jeff.tully@latimes.com
Twitter: @jefftsports
