We were traveling by bus to Muir High School for a football game against the Mustangs. I remember everyone joking, checking out the girls in the cars going by, and generally having fun instead of mentally preparing for the game.
Our perception of Muir was less than favorable - easy pickings. Our team was so confident we spent most of the time talking about next week's game.
After four quarters of football against Muir, we boarded the bus for the long - and quiet - ride back to Burbank - we had lost.
Seems Muir never received the memo stating they were going to lose. They came to play football; we didn't.
The Apaches of Arcadia High School (10-8) traveled to George Izay Park in Burbank to take on the Indians of John Burroughs High School (11-11). Arcadia was coming off of a stunning 4-6 loss to Glendale High School (6-9) the previous day.
A month earlier, Burroughs suffered a 10-7 loss to Arcadia, so it was anyone's guess as to which team had the upper hand in this second meeting.
First-year coach
Steven Garcia had already faced a 1-3 loss to Crescenta Valley (CV) and a 16-0 win against Muir, with Arcadia being the third contest of the week.
On the mound for the Indians was senior
Kerry Hodgins, with junior
Katie Budrick behind the plate. Garcia, possibly not wanting to repeat the earlier loss to CV, realigned his defense to better match the strengths of his players.
The first inning opened with Arcadia's
Morgan Barchan reaching base on an error by junior
Lizzie Peters. Three batters and a single later, the first score of the game was posted. The Indians responded by posting a run of their own as Hodgins and
Taylor Buliavac (2-for-3 on the day) singled and Budrick sacrificed.
The second, third and fourth innings were unproductive for both teams. In the top of the fifth inning, the Apaches went down in order;
Casey Reichelderfer was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the inning then moved over several bases when Peters sacrificed and
Cassie Colón reached on an error, scoring Reichelderfer and putting the Indians ahead 2-1.
Arcadia struggled against the solid Indian defense, as its went down 1-2-3 in the sixth inning.Arcadia's only runner (reached base on the second error of the game by Peters) was caught stealing second on a quick throw by Budrick and an acrobatic tag by sophomore
Vanessa Simile.
With only one inning left to close out a possible victory, Burroughs managed singles by Budrick, Buliavac, junior
Angela Parker and Peters. When the inning came to a close, the Indians lead the Apaches, 4-1.
The Burroughs defense shut down Arcadia in the seventh inning as the first batter hit a line drive that was caught by Peters. The next two outs came from the tag team of Peters and Colón - otherwise known as the 4-3 put -ut.
Burroughs (12-11) celebrated more than a victory against Arcadia (10-9), as the Indians moved ahead of Arcadia to take third place in the Pacific League.
Next up for Burroughs will be the final meetings of the regular season against Pasadena (2-17) and Burbank (19-2).
The Bulldogs of Burbank are looking to claim the city bragging rights while Burroughs would like to take the role of a spoiler.