Crescenta Valley High softball cooled off by rival Arcadia
ARCADIA — After a stretch in which the Crescenta Valley High softball team scored a bushel of runs, it found itself handcuffed Thursday.
The Falcons entered Thursday’s Pacific League road game against rival Arcadia red hot offensively and on a three-game winning streak.
Arcadia starting pitcher Monica Baerg held the Falcons in check, though, as she limited Crescenta Valley to six hits en route to a 4-0 victory.
Leading into Thursday’s contest, Crescenta Valley had outscored its league opponents in six contests by a 59-22 margin.
“She did well and we didn’t make the adjustments against her,” said Crescenta Valley shortstop Hailey Cookson, who finished with two hits. “We have to do better and make the adjustments the next time we play.”
The Falcons dropped to 9-8-1, 5-2 in league. Arcadia (12-4, 5-2) will meet Crescenta Valley again on May 9 at Crescenta Valley.
Crescenta Valley’s best scoring chance came in the first inning. Cookson and Adela Alatraca opened with back-to-back singles before Baerg escaped the jam by retiring the next three batters.
“We had several innings where we had multiple runners on base,” Crescenta Valley Coach Mark Sanford said. “We had to cash in on those.”
The Apaches scored a pair of runs in the second to take a 2-0 lead. Katelyn Morreale led off with a double and moved to third on a single by Lauren Jaurigui against Crescenta Valley starting pitcher Olivia Thayer, who allowed two earned runs.
Thayer struck out the next batter before Baerg grounded out to second to drive in Morreale to make it 1-0. A run-scoring single by Stephanie Wang extended the advantage to 2-0.
The Apaches padded their lead to 3-0 on a run-scoring double by Yeram Park in the fourth. Arcadia closed out the scoring in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Stephanie Noriega.
“Arcadia did a great job,” Sanford said. “They had a lot of 0-2 pitches that they fouled off and then got the big hits.
“That’s just great hitting. Arcadia earned everything they got. In spite of the loss, we are halfway [through league] and there’s a lot of ball left. We will see what we can learn and make the adjustments.”
Chloe Fairbrother had two hits for Crescenta Valley, which got one from Whitney Craig.
Park and Noriega paced the Apaches with two hits apiece.
