Locals lose in all-star game

VAN NUYS — Throughout the course of the Pacific League softball season, players from Crescenta Valley, Burbank and Burroughs highs did everything they could to prevent the other from coming out of a game victorious.

On Tuesday at the 2008 San Fernando Valley Classic All-Star game, a quartet of players from the three league foes had the rare opportunity to join forces for the East squad and test their mettle against some of the best competition Southern California has to offer.

Crescenta Valley’s Lainey DePompa and Ashleigh Viers-Gordillo, Burroughs’ Kerry Hodgins and Burbank’s Kristina Ortiz couldn’t do quite enough to help the East team hold off a game West team in a 6-4 loss, but the foursome clearly left its mark.

The four players combined to go five for 12, with three runs batted in, in their final high school games and helped the East gain an early advantage before the West rallied late.

Viers-Gordillo and Hodgins did most of the damage for the Pacific League representatives, as each finished two for three and drove in a run.

With the East trailing, 1-0, in the fourth, Hodgins came up with runners at the corners and two outs. The University of New Mexico-bound infielder promptly slapped a bloop single over third base, plating Emily Bliss of Chaminade to tie the score at 1.

“I just like playing with this top level of girls,” said Hodgins, who would later drop down a bunt single and steal a base in the seventh. “And it’s awesome just playing with them all on one team.”

The score remained tied into the fifth, but the Crescenta Valley pair of DePompa and Viers-Gordillo made sure it didn’t stay that way.

Viers-Gordillo ripped a single up the middle to score Carlie Lucas of Alemany and give the West a 2-1 advantage. DePompa, the next batter, quickly made it 3-1 when her hard grounder found its way into center field for an RBI single.

Down, 4-3, the East tied the score with a run in the top of the sixth, but the West scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth.

Ortiz finished 0 for three with a line out to third and two groundouts. The Burbank first baseman was robbed of extra bases in her first at-bat.