CVFH washed away again

A summer that's seen two championships won, 10 impressive victories, a winning combination come together and a run to the Western Regionals was almost squandered in one calamitous inning.

But the fleet feet of Calley Ellingford were able to at least even things up before the familiar Arizona lightning and rain once again washed away the night, as the Crescenta Valley-Foothill Junior All-Stars were all tied up with Gilroy of Northern California, 8-8, in the top of the fifth inning Monday night at Arthur Park in Tucson, Ariz., when the game was called after a lengthy delay.

It was the second night in a row in which rain wreaked havoc on CVFH (10-1), as it was forced to postpone its Sunday night game with Thornydale of Arizona, which CVFH defeated, 6-3, to advance into a 7:30 p.m. game on Monday night against Northern California. So, CVFH and Gilroy will resume their game at 5 p.m. Tuesday with the winner set to play Oregon, which lost to Alaska, 7-0, in a game called early due to the weather, at 7:30 p.m.

It's hardly a situation CVFH looked headed for after taking a 7-0 lead into the fourth inning. But then the wheels fell off, as starting pitcher Adella Alatraca, who had pitched brilliantly in earning the win in the first game of the day, gave up three walks and two hits, while the defense behind her committed two errors. The result was an eight-run Gilroy outburst that gave them an 8-7 lead. But CVFH quickly countered thanks to Ellingford singling, stealing two bases and scoring on a sacrifice fly to the game at 8.

With Alex Howard in the circle for CVFH and a 1-1 count, the game was called in the top of the fifth.

Up to that point, Sammy Fabian was two for two with two runs scored and a walk for CVFH, which has already won Section 2 and Division III tournaments. Howard had three runs batted in, Jordan Lousararian had two runs and Ellingford had two walks and a pair of runs to go with her single.

In the bottom of the first, Fabian led off with a single and Lousararian followed with a two-out single that put runners on the corners. Fabian then scored on a double steal as she swiped home for a 1-0 lead. Lousararian later scored to make it 2-0 off a Howard single to left.