CV blasts North Park

GLENDALE — Coming off a stifling defeat the day prior, Crescenta Valley’s Junior All-Stars were in dire need of a bounce-back game in the loser’s bracket of the Southern California State Championships tournament in Victorville.

CV staved off elimination, bounced back and then some.

On the strength of its second combined no-hitter in three days and a suddenly revived offense, Crescenta Valley pounded out a 21-1 win over North Park on Monday evening in a game that came to an early halt after five innings via the mercy rule.

“We broke out a little bit with the bats,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Will Thayer, whose team will play either South El Monte or Reid Park today at 6 p.m. in another loser’s park game. “They overmatched the North Park team.”

Olivia Thayer, Kellyn O’Leary and Adela Alatraca combined on the no-hitter, while Thayer also added two hits and Alatraca had two.

“The pitching’s always been there,” said Coach Thayer, whose team is now 5-1. “Nobody’s really hit us yet.”

The same trio combined for a no-hitter in Crescenta Valley’s tournament opener on Friday.

Tied 1-1 after two innings on Monday, the game was essentially put to rest in the top of the third, as Crescenta Valley scored nine runs on 12 hits in the stanza to blow past North Park.

“We just really started to roll,” Coach Thayer said. “We just sort of had our way with it.”

Marissa Cornelius, who had a pair of hits, had a triple in the inning, while Thayer, Alatraca and Tiffany Briscoe, who had three hits, added doubles in the stanza.

Cailen Rodriguez, Taylor Hill, Jessica Madeira and Clair Oconnor also had two hits each.

“I told them [before the game] that I want you to go out and put up as many [runs] as you can,” Coach Thayer said. “And they did that.

“I wanted to make a statement. … It could’ve actually been even uglier.”

If Crescenta Valley is to fulfill its championship aspirations, Thayer believes his team must continue its offensive ways of Monday.

“I hope that it carries over,” he said. “We really gotta get our game going.”

In a winner’s-bracket game Sunday, Crescenta Valley suffered a 4-2 loss to Westchester Del Rey. Crescenta Valley finished with seven hits and limited Westchester Del Rey to three.

Crescenta Valley took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on a run-scoring hit by Alatraca that brought in Cornelius. Thayer then scored on a passed ball in the fourth to make it 2-0.

Westchester Del Rey closed to within 2-1 in the fifth and scored three runs in the sixth to complete the scoring. Crescenta Valley made three errors in the sixth.

Alatraca finished with two hits for Crescenta Valley, which received one apiece from Briscoe, Thayer, Madeira, Oconnor and Cornelius.