April Anaya and Addison Moorman combined for six strikeouts in the shutout victory for the Highlanders 

The Granada Hills Highlanders came ready to play as they took down the Burbank Bulldogs 10-0 in a five-inning mercy rule victory. The Highlanders came off a 1-1 record at the Cypress Tournament this past weekend that started with a 3-1 loss to Cypress and before bouncing back a 9-6 win over Villa Park. The Bulldogs went 0-2 in the first week of the Hart Tournament being defeated by Saugus and El Camino Real. 

The Highlanders began the afternoon by scoring three runs in the first inning off of Maddiosn Kellogg. Kellogg was able to escape a first-inning jam by getting Annabella Ramirez on a pop out to the catcher Kasandra Davila to end the opening half of the first inning. The Bulldogs had their chance to get on base with two outs but Kayla Orozco was robbed of a single with Jasmine Soriano making a diving catch to end the home half of the first. 

Following a rough first inning for Kellogg, she responded with a much better second inning by retiring the side in order. April Anaya kept pace when she retired the side in order in the home half of the second inning. The Highlanders then put up two more runs in the third inning as both Elyssee Diaz and Giselle Merida scored runs to give the Highlanders a 5-0 lead. Those runs came without hits. 

Priscilla Sanchez finally got the Bulldogs their first hit of the game to lead off the next inning. She put her team in scoring position by then stealing second. Unfortunately, Sanchez was left stranded as Sofia Solorazo, Isabell Villagran and Samantha Cafferty failed to bring her home. Elysse Diaz hit an inside-the-park home run to increase the Granada Hills lead to seven in the top of the fourth inning. Lainey Brown sealed the game by hitting a two-out RBI triple that drove in two runs to seal the 10-0 mercy rule win over Burbank. 

“We adjusted very well. Our flexibility showed in this win over Burbank,” said Highlanders coach Ivan Garcia. Garcia had praise for both April Anaya and Addison Moorman for their work in the pitcher’s circle in the win for Granada Hills. 

“We need to hit, our offense went south in the last two games,” said Javier Rojas. He added  that the team will need to not only hit but score runs if the Bulldogs want to get back on the right foot offensively. 

Burbank falls to 1-3-1 and Granada Hills improves to 2-1. Both teams will return to action on Thursday, February 27th as the Highlanders will play Agoura at 3:15 p.m. and Burbank will take on Alhambra at home at 3:45 p.m.