Crescenta Valley-Foothill Junior All-Star softball team rebounds with win over Montana
One day after suffering a loss in which nothing came easy, the members of the Crescenta Valley-Foothill Junior All-Star softball team seemingly got whatever they wanted when they wanted it in defeating Montana, 10-1, in Saturday’s loser’s bracket elimination game of the Western Regional Junior All-Star Softball Tournament Friday at Arthur Pack Regional Park in Tucson.
Jordan Lousararian, who took the loss in the circle when CVFH suffered its first setback of the tournament, 10-6, to Alaska on Friday, was the offensive hero of the game Saturday, going three for five with two triples and driving in a team-high four runs.
“It felt great because we were all kind of down that we had our first loss in the whole tournament,” Lousararian said. “[The win] helped to build our confidence back up and it kind of got us going again and now we have it back.”
CVFH will now play at 7:30 p.m. Sunday against the winner of a game between host Thornydale and Alaska that was played later Saturday. A win there would get the team back in the championship bracket for a game on Monday and one step closer to the ultimate goal.
While totaling 13 hits, including five for extra bases, CVFH got excellent pitching performances from Alex Howard, who started and tossed three scoreless innings with two hits and a walk allowed while fanning eight, and Adela Alatraca, who recorded the final 12 outs with three hits allowed.
“We didn’t really have to do much on defense today,” Lousararian said. “It was all strikeouts and they didn’t really get any hits at all.”
In contrast to Friday’s game, in which Thayer said his team struggled to find holes in the defense, CVFH got production up and down the lineup, led by Camie Ellingford (four for five with three runs and two runs batted in), Tiffany Bartamian (one for three with two runs and a walk) and Calley Ellingford (one for four with two runs and a walk).
“Last night after the loss, I said every good team will have their moments and not play well and [Friday] was theirs,” CVFH Coach Will Thayer said. “Tonight they were right back in business again. They were pretty much themselves from the get-go.”
Camie Ellingford singled in the first inning to score her sister, who led the game off with a walk. Lousararian then singled to left field on a hard ground ball to plate Camie Ellingford. CVFH would blow the game open with four-spots in the both the third and fourth innings.
Calley Ellingford led off the third with a double and scored when her sister doubled two batters later. Lousararian’s first three-bagger of the game scored Camie Ellingford and Bartamian, who had singled. Lousararian scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-0.
In the fourth, Howard tripled to right field and scored on a throwing error before Camie Ellingford singled and advanced to third on a botched pickoff and then scored on a passed ball. Bartamian followed with a walk and scored when Lousararian tripled once again. Alatraca singled to score Lousararian and cap the CVFH scoring.
“[Lousararian] was big with the stick tonight and Alex Howard had big hits, Miranda Diaz [two for four], had a couple of big hits,” Thayer said. “We ran on them a little bit and they weren’t ready for us. It was a good night offensively and on the base paths, we didn’t make any mistakes.”