Crescenta Valley-Foothill All-Stars spin division shutout

WESTCHESTER — There was something common and something rare in the Crescenta Valley-Foothill Junior All-Star softball team's victory over Victorville that advanced it to the championship round of the Southern California Division III Tournament.

What was familiar to the CVFH fans was their team's offense, which not only stayed hot with 14 hits, but took an early lead as it usually has over the past two weeks in the 9-0 victory at Kent D. Mace Field in Westchester.

The rare occurrence for CVFH was the shutout from pitcher Jordan Lousararian, who stayed in for all seven innings instead of being subbed out after four innings for reliever Adela Alatraca, which CVFH's coaching staff has routinely done during his team's run.

"They couldn't figure her out so I figured I'm going to ride this horse," Coach Will Thayer said of his decision to stick with Lousararian. "[Victorville] only had three more innings left and she was in the zone so I was going to ride it."

Lousararian rewarded Thayer by shutting down a potent Victorville offense that had scored 14 and seven runs in its previous two games.

"My drop [pitch] and my changeup were working," said Lousararian, who gave up just three hits, three walks and struck out nine in the game. "It was a good day for it to work. …Our defense was great and we had a good run cushion so that helped."

The win puts CVFH into the championship round of the tournament and in need of only one win against the winner of the Westchester-Del Rey and Victorville game — set to be played Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. — to become Division III champion and earn a berth to Tucson, Ariz. and a spot in the Western Regional Tournament.

The Division III championship round kicks off Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Kent D. Mace Field with an if-necessary game to be played if CVFH loses on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Camie Ellingford came up big with two outs to give CVFH a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. She jumped on the first pitch she saw and lined it over the center fielder to score Alex Howard, who singled aboard with one out and moved to second on a Cailen Rodriguez groundout.

The No. 2, 3 and 4 hitters for CVFH — Howard, Rodriguez and Ellingford, respectively — all fueled the offense, as the three combined for eight hits and five runs batted in. Calley Ellingford (two for two with a stolen base) also had a multi-hit game for CVFH, which also got singles from Sammy Fabian, Taylor Schaffer, Tiffany Bartamian and Brenda Gamez.