CV keeps things going

SAN MARINO — Standing in the third-base coaching box, Crescenta Valley 9-10 All-Star softball Coach Dan Abboud could see his players brimming with confidence after each base hit.

Abboud figured it was a good sign.

“For us, it’s about one base at a time because you never know what can spark them,” Abboud said Monday night after Crescenta Valley posted a 12-7 win against Quartz Hill in the Section 2 championship contest at San Marino Little League Field. “Once you see them starting to hit, you can see how they feed off each other.

“It’s amazing when things like that happen.”

Crescenta Valley, which won the District 16 championship, finished with 11 hits. Crescenta Valley will face Quartz Hill, the District 51 champion, in the if-necessary championship game at 5 p.m. today at the same location. The winner will move on to the Division Tournament, which will be held in Victorville beginning Thursday.

Crescenta Valley saw Quartz Hill take a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but bounced back thanks to some timely pitching and clutch hitting from Alli Lombardo.

Lombardo finished with three hits and drove in four runs. In the circle, the right-hander went the final 4 1/3 innings in relief, striking out 11 and allowing two earned runs.

“I knew that we would be able to score some runs because my defense was playing well behind me,” Lombardo said. “We know that everybody on our team can hit.

“We just want to put the ball in play and see what happens.”

Plenty happened for Crescenta Valley, which registered a 12-2 win against District 40 champion Granada Hills in an elimination game Sunday after suffering a 7-5 loss to Quartz Hill on Saturday.

Crescenta Valley scored five runs in the top of the second inning to take a 5-3 lead. A single by Elizabeth Heinemann scored Tyler Herman to score to cut the deficit to 3-1 and a throwing error by the Quartz Hill pitcher on a squeeze bunt by Mallory Hill allowed Heinemann and Briana McReynolds to score to knot the game at 3.

Lombardo came through with a double that scored Hill to make it 4-3 before an error by the shortstop extended the Crescenta Valley lead to 5-3.

Quartz Hill came back with three runs in its half of the second to take a 6-5 lead.

Crescenta Valley then tied the game at 6 in the third on an RBI single by Lombardo that brought in Hill.

Quartz Hill fought back to take a 7-6 lead in the fourth, but Crescenta Valley responded with a two-run fifth.

Jordan Hinkle and Jennie Chacon delivered back-to-back run-scoring singles to give Crescenta Valley, which finished with five stolen bases, an 8-7 lead.

Crescenta Valley then scored four runs in the sixth to complete the scoring, as Lombardo had a two-run double and Chacon followed with a two-run single.

Crescenta Valley first baseman Alexis Abboud, who reached base safely five times, said Crescenta Valley needed a strong offensive effort Monday.

“At first, I thought we were going to lose when we were losing, 3-0,” said Abboud, who was hit by a pitch in her first three plate appearances. “Then, when we scored that first run, we thought we could win this game.

“We showed that we could score a lot of runs.”

Hinkle, Chacon and Herman each had two hits for Crescenta Valley, which got one apiece from Abboud and Heinemann.