Burroughs Softball Beats Burbank 11-1 on Senior Night

Burroughs softball beat rival Burbank 11-1 Wednesday at Olive Park, with the Pacific League contest ending after five innings when the Bears triggered the 10-run mercy rule.

Five seniors got their moment before the first pitch. Karlee Earl, Hailey Perez, Eva Acevedo, Neyla Cervantes, and Hailey Franco were each recognized in front of a packed crowd at Olive Park. By the time the final out was recorded, they’d given that crowd a lot more than a pregame ceremony to remember.

Earl was the one who closed it out. She went 2-for-3 on the night, with a single and a double, driving in two runs. Her two-run single to left field in the fifth inning finished off the rally that ended the game. That’s the kind of moment you don’t forget.

“I feel that the game was very community driven and it was very uplifting to have so many fans support us,” Earl said. “Our team really came together today and everyone pulled for each other making Senior Night and the win so much more special.”

Junior Valentina Reyes worked all five innings in the circle. She struck out 9, walked two, and surrendered just four hits. It’s a sharp line for any game, but especially one with this much noise and this much history behind it. Reyes didn’t flinch. She went right at hitters and kept the Bulldogs guessing from the first inning to the last.

Burbank actually jumped out in front. Junior Kassandra Davila-Kimmer drew a leadoff walk in the top of the first, moved up on a single, and scored on an infield error. The Bulldogs had a 1-0 lead and a little momentum, and the Olive Park crowd was alive.

Burroughs answered without hesitation. Nine Bears came to the plate in the bottom of the first. Three hits, four runs. It was 4-1 before Burbank’s defense even caught its breath. Junior Chloe Zavala knocked a two-out single that helped spark the sequence, and the game’s early box score details capture exactly how fast the Bears flipped the script on a game that had briefly slipped away from them.

Zavala ended the night with three RBI and two singles. Junior Ali Cortez doubled in two runs. In the fifth, 8 batters came to the plate. Freshman Sydney Shugar singled in a run. Sophomore Haven Vickers did the same. The Bears pushed the lead to 11-1 and that was it.

Burbank’s lone senior, pitcher Kayla McPherson, went the full five innings. She gave up 8 hits, walked 4, hit 3 batters, and struck out 5. It’s a rough line, but this Burroughs lineup doesn’t let pitchers settle in. They’ll keep coming at you until you can’t stop them.

Coach Doug Nicol didn’t pretend the start was clean.

“I was impressed with our resilience. We got off to a little bit of a slow start and made a quick error, but we bounced back and showed a lot of fight,” Nicol said. “I am really proud of everyone. It was a total team effort.”

He wasn’t done. “This team has a lot of fight and never gives up,” he said.

That showed up on the scoreboard Wednesday night. The Bears didn’t let an early deficit turn into a storyline. They responded in the first inning, kept the pressure on through five, and capped it with the kind of Senior Night ending that the five recognized players will carry for a long time. Earl’s two-run single to left, the crowd going loud, the game over. That’s not a bad way to celebrate.

The win keeps Burroughs rolling in Pacific League play. The Bears have shown they can handle a rivalry atmosphere and still execute when the moment’s biggest. With Reyes dealing in the circle and the offense able to score 14 runs over the last two innings combined, this group’s got real depth heading into the stretch of the schedule.