Softball

LOS ANGELES - Crescenta Valley-Foothill Junior All-Star softball Coach Will Thayer thinks there may have been some nerves at play with his team, which opened the Southern California Division III Junior Softball Tournament Saturday. Those nerves were quickly calmed by a number ofTri-Valley miscues - four errors, three passed balls and three wild pitches - that helped fuel a CVFH offense that had 13 hits, including multi-hit games from Alex Howard, Cailen Rodriguez and Camie Ellingford, in a 10-0 mercy-rule victory over five innings at Kent D. Mace Field in Westchester.

Everything was going perfectly for the Crescenta Valley-Foothill Junior All-Stars softball team until it found itself behind in the Section 2 tournament championship game. CVFH hadn't surrendered a run in its first two games of the tournament - wins over Canyon Country-Mission Hills (8-0) and Quartz Hill (7-0) - until it found itself trailing Canyon Country-Mission Hills, 4-3, in the third inning of the Section 2 championship game Tuesday. There was plenty of time for CVFH to find itself in the game, as it went on to capture the 13-9 victory and tournament title to stamp its ticket into the Division III tournament, which begins Saturday.

CANYON COUNTRY - It was a deviation from the script, but nonetheless, when the credits rolled on Tuesday evening's Section 2 Junior All-Stars Tournament, it was still a happy ending for the Crescenta Valley-Foothill All-Stars at Canyon Country Little League. The locals rode a 17-hit performance and a seven-run fifth inning to a 13-9 win over Canyon Country-Mission Hills, a Section 2 crown and a berth in Saturday's opening round of the Division III Tournament in Los Angeles. "We were a little over confident, because we beat them the first time, so we thought we had this thing wrapped up," said Camie Ellingford, who had three hits, two runs batted in and a run scored.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE - After conducting the first two years of the annual Tornadoes Baseball Camp, Joe Cotti decided to make some major changes to the event's structural layout. In the past, Cotti, Hoover High's baseball coach, shoe-horned facets from hitting to pitching to defense into a week-long session and would repeat the process for another five weeks. While it served its purpose, Cotti explored other ways to make the camp more attractive to current and future participants.

CANYON COUNTRY - On a torridly windy Saturday afternoon at the Canyon Country Little League complex, the Crescenta Valley-Foothill Junior All-Stars softball team made its debut and promptly blew past District 40's Canyon Country-Mission Hills in the opening round of the Section 2 Tournament, 8-0. Bolstered by a standout performance in the circle and at the plate from Jordan Lousararian, CVFH used patience at the plate to grab an early lead,...

NORTHEAST GLENDALE - With a quality pitcher tossing strikes and an agile lead-off hitter getting on base with consistency, it's not hard to determine why the Burbank District 16 9-10 All-Star Team has been successful. Though Burbank played its fifth game in as many days Monday night, Mia Coomes and Isabella Kam showed no sign of fatigue. Coomes struck out 10 and Kam collected four hits to help power Burbank to a 15-4 victory against Foothill in the if-necessary championship contest at Scholl Canyon Ball Fields.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE - A pair of Crescenta Valley 10- and 11-year-old softball players mentioned after Saturday's Little League contest that they couldn't wait to smack the ball against the pitchers from the Vaquero/Jewel City-Jewish War Veterans squad. Peyton Marshall said she was impatient, and described teammate Brianna McReynolds as "feisty," at the plate and in the circle. But Marshall and McReynolds didn't get many opportunities to hit because they had to remain patient against two struggling pitchers.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE - Another chance equaled another day for the Burbank 9-10 Softball All-Star team in the District 16 consolation bracket final. Burbank, which is made up of all-stars from the Bees and Bruins, scored in four of five innings and received a one-hitter from pitcher Lillyanna Travieso in eliminating visiting Crescenta Valley, 10-0, in five innings Saturday morning at Scholl Canyon Ball Fields. With the triumph, Burbank earned another opportunity at redemption versus unblemished Foothill, which it plays today at 12:30 p.m. back at Scholl.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE - Kristen Laulette admitted the Foothill Major All-Star softball team was just about ready to give up on its season - facing an eight-run deficit heading into its final at-bats - until Emily Mulcahey called her team to action. "A lot of us were giving up on the bench, all sad, and Emily walked through and said, 'Guys, we can do this, why are you on the bench? Let's do this,'" Laulette said. "I got hyped up and everybody started getting hyped up. If one person does it, the entire team starts doing it. " Foothill rallied behind Mulcahey and scored eight runs on seven walks and three hits in the bottom of the sixth inning of the District 16 consolation bracket final against Crescenta Valley to send the game to an extra seventh inning, where the improbable comeback was completed with a walk-off hit by Laulette for a 14-13 victory at Scholl Canyon Park.

NORTHEAST GLENDALE - In a game with eight combined errors and nine wild pitches, it was a strong defensive play that secured the Glendale Foothill All-Stars a date in Sunday's 9-10-year-old District 16 softball championship. Foothill catcher Alasia Urena recovered a wild pitch, spun and fired a strike to starting pitcher Gabby Poli, who tagged out sliding Burbank All-Stars base runner Isabella Kim at the plate for the final out of a wild come-from-behind 8-7 victory Friday afternoon at Scholl Canyon Ballfields.