Burbank-Crescenta Valley-Foothill All-Stars softball continues dominant ways

GLENDALE - On the way to capturing the District 16 title, the Burbank-Crescenta Valley-Foothill Junior All-Stars scored 36 runs and allowed none in a combined two softball games.

In the opening game of the Section 2 tournament at Montrose Community Park against District 51 champion West Lancaster, they looked to continue their dominant play, and that is exactly what they did.

Propelled by a nine-run second inning, the Burbank-CV-Foothill team hammered West Lancaster, winning, 17-0, in a contest stopped after five innings due to the mercy rule.

“It was more of the same,” Burbank-CV-Foothill coach Will Thayer said of another one-sided tournament victory, which put his team into Tuesday’s championship game at 7 p.m. “The girls came out hitting, we put up a couple early in the first and then it got out of hand a little bit in the second inning.”

Burbank-CV-Foothill constantly put pressure on West Lancaster by putting the ball in play and being aggressive in running the bases. The first two runs scored came as a result of West Lancaster miscues. Both runs came home on an overthrow of third base by the West Lancaster catcher as she tried to recover from losing track of a pitch that reached the backstop. The first run was scored by Camie Ellingford, who led off the game with a hustle double, and the second was scored by Alex Howard, who had reached on an infield error.

The floodgates opened for Burbank-CV-Foothill in the second inning, as it poured it on to the tune of nine runs. In the frame, there were six run-producing hits and nine overall. Ellingford, Brenda Gamez and Clare Smith each had an RBI single. Additionally, Jordan Lousararian had a double to drive in another, and the biggest blow of the inning came on a single off the bat of Sammi Moro that dropped into right field and drove in two.

“I’m pretty proud of my girls,” Moro said. “We always get it done and I think a lot of our practice pays off from practicing every day and just working our tails off.”

In the pivotal second, Burbank-CV-Foothill scored its first three runs, two on West Lancaster errors, but then found itself with two outs. But that did little to slow the deluge, as the District 16 champions proceeded to get the next eight runners on base on seven hits, including Moro’s two-run single, and score six more for a 11-0 advantage after two innings.

“[With] two outs, basically we go up and we don’t want to go into the dugout and we don’t want to go back into the field, because we just love hitting,” Moro said.

Burbank-CV-Foothill scored two more in the third when both Taylor Schaffer and Moro, who finished with a game-high three RBIs, each stroked a run-producing single.

“It feels good knowing that you contributed to score and to the game,” Moro said.

Not finished yet, Burbank-CV-Foothill notched four more runs in the fourth. Howard hit a single up the middle for the first. Gamez followed two batters later with a triple that drove in two. The final run of the contest was driven in by the next batter, Schaffer, with a groundout, scoring Gamez.

Not to be lost in the offensive explosion was the high-quality start from hurler Therese Oshiro.

“I was excited because I don’t usually get to start,” Oshiro said, “so it was really cool.”

Oshiro struck out two batters in each of her three innings while allowing only one clean hit, a single in the second, to pick up the win. Brenda Gamez took over in the circle for the final two innings, allowing three singles and striking out two to complete yet another lopsided shutout.

“We gave her the start today,” Thayer said. “We have a couple of other folks who are lined up to pitch and we thought she was due. [Oshiro] deserved a little start today, so we gave it to her and she performed. Then Brenda Gamez, who played for us last year, came in and shut it all down and kept it clean for us.”

So far, in capturing the District 16 crown and then blanking West Lancaster to open Section 2 play on Sunday, Burbank-CV-Foothill has outscored the opposition, 53-0.

“The pitching has obviously been awesome,” Thayer said. “We haven’t given up a run yet, so we’re doing OK.”

Next for Burbank-CV-Foothill will be a game at 7 p.m. on Tuesday against Canyon Country or West Lancaster. A win in that game would secure the Section 2 title.

“If we can get past the next game and get to division on the weekend it is a whole different story,” Thayer said. “There are some big clubs out there in different sections waiting to take us down. We’ll see what happens. You’ve got to play one game at a time.”