The Indians of John Burroughs High School (7-9) returned for their final weekend of the Birmingham Tournament to face the Warriors of Alemany (13-7).
The top of the first inning opened with a single by
Kerry Hodgins. Three batters later, she was left stranded on base. Alemany also sent four batters to the plate in the bottom half of the inning.
Facing Hodgins on the mound and
Katie Budrick behind the plate, the Warriors managed one run on a single and the first of three Burroughs errors.
The second inning had Burroughs send four more batters to the plate without scoring. Alemany doubled up its success from the previous inning as six batters rocked Hodgins for a single, a double and a triple.
Trailing 3-0, the Indians found their bats frozen in the 80° F weather as they went 1-2-3 over the next three innings.
Cassie Colón reached on a double in the fifth inning, but was thrown out trying to delay steal.
The Warriors also went scoreless over the same three innings.
Rookie head coach
Steven Garcia reached into the lineup card during the fifth inning, hoping to spark a scoring spree by going to the bench.
The change had the desired affect in the sixth inning, as the Indians rallied on two Alemany errors, a walk, a sacrifice and three singles. When the dust settled, Burroughs had pushed across four runs and now led Alemany 4-3.
Both teams recorded single hits in the seventh inning, but it was Burroughs landing on the winning side of the game.
Game two on the day had the Indians facing the Lions of Oaks Christian (6-13).
This was not the same O.C. team that went 17-1 prior to facing the Indians in the 2007 season. Last year, Burroughs stunned the Lions 7-0, a game that included a grand slam by Colón.
Lizzie Peters was on the mound for the Indians, with
Liz Hanna behind the plate. The first inning ended up scoreless for both teams, with Burroughs sending four batters to the plate and O.C. sent three.
The O.C. offense seemingly fizzled in the top of the second of the inning with a fly out to
Anissa Lopez in right field. However, the next five batters produced two runs on two singles, a sacrifice and a Burroughs' error. In the bottom of the inning, Burroughs stranded two runners as
Vanessa Simile walked and Peters singled.
The Indians woke up in the third inning as singles by Peters and Colón narrowed the score 2-1, while the Lions went down in order. The Lions went 1-2-3 to close the inning, while Burroughs did the same in the top of the fifth.
Hanna reached on a single in the fourth inning, but was left on base by the next three batters.
O.C. repeated the performance of the second inning, opening up with a fly out to the outfield, but following it up with two singles and its third score of the game.
The Indians again closed the gap to one run when Peters doubled, allowing Simile, who had reached on an error, to score.
The Lions were not to be denied their revenge for last year's loss as they added two more runs in the sixth inning and one in the seventh. Burroughs could not respond and lost to Oaks Christian 4-2.
Next up for Burroughs, a return to Pacific League play against Hoover and Glendale high schools.