High school athletic programs have a farm club system much like the major leagues; we call it Junior Varsity (JV). The JV team is generally made up of underclassmen: freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. This allows the coaching staff to "grow" these young players or to control the number of players at the varsity level. There are times during the season when JV players may be called up to replace injured varsity players or as part of the strategy for a specific game. Unfortunately, the JV teams do not receive the level of fan or media attention varsity teams do.

So it only seemed fitting that I made my way to Van Nuys Sherman Oaks Park, where the John Burroughs High School (JBHS Indians) JV softball team was set to face the Knights of Notre Dame. Game time was set for 3:15 p.m., but someone forgot to tell the umpire. Although the JBHS squad arrived around 2:30 p.m., they were informed game time was 2:45 p.m. (seems rather strange that all other league games are at 3:15 p.m., but I digress).

On the mound for the Indians was Christina Lara, with Adriana Alvarez behind the plate catching. The first inning had the Indians sending six batters to the plate while scoring one run. The Knights countered by sending six batters of their own and also scoring one run. The bottom of the second inning opened the floodgates as the Burroughs squad batted twelve players and scored seven runs. The lights went out on Notre Dame as their first two batters struck out and the third batter never made it to 1st base. The third inning saw five Indians push across one more run while the Knights again, went down in order. After three innings of play, the JBHS JV squad enjoyed a 9-1 lead. At the top of the fourth inning, seven more JBHS batters scored three runs.

Things looked pretty grim for the Knights as they came to bat at the bottom of the fourth, but the inning seemed to spark a ray of hope as six batters came to the plate. When the dust settled, however, the Knights were unable to score a run as the Indian's defense held them in check. With time running out, both teams entered the 5th and final inning. The Indians started off with a repeat of the 2nd inning as they sent eight batters to the plate and scored four runs. The Knights had definitely run out of gas as they went down in order with JBHS pitcher Shelley Klawitter striking out two and forcing the last batter to pop out. The final tally in the JBHS win was 16-1.