Royal sweeps Burbank, qualify for districts

ROYAL CITY - The Royal High fastpitch team has made it to the district tournament for the second straight year, after an 18-4, 13-8 sweep of Burbank at Burbank last Saturday.

But there will still be a lot to play for this Friday when the Knights take on River View at Royal in the SCAC season finale twin bill. District seeding will depend on the outcome.

If the Knights pull out two wins, they will finish second in the SCAC East and qualify to host a first round game. If they drop even one game, the Knights will finish fourth in the East and have to travel to the No. 1 seed from the West.

"It will definitely be a tough matchup," coach Robyn Valdez said.

At Burbank, Royal jumped to a 6-0 first inning lead and never looked back.

A hit batsman, a walk by Kailee Harris, a passed ball, and a two-run error during the first inning helped the Knights put runs on the board early.

McDarra VonStein did her best to jumpstart the offense, reaching base four times.

Samantha Dunn shut down Burbank while she was in the pitching circle. Burbank managed two hits off of Dunn, but she allowed no earned runs, walked one and struck out four during her three innings of work.

The Knights added two more runs in the top of the third. A bases loaded walk scored Savanna Buster for the inning's first run. That was followed by Ashley Valle's single, bringing home VonStein.

The Knights piled on six more runs in the top of the fourth. A clutch error scored Sam Spalding and Buster to open the frame. That was followed up by Valle's single, plating Hannah Larson.

There were four more Royal runs in the fifth.

Pitchers had a tough time in the second game as the teams combined for 21 runs. There were 23 hits, including four for extra bases. There were 10 lead changes.

The Knights finally took control with a strong seventh inning. They scored on a two-run single by Araujo that brought home Buster and VonStein.

The Knights were led by a flawless game at the dish by Valle, who went 5-5 against Columbia's pitching. She doubled in the fifth inning, tripled in the sixth inning, and singled in the first, third, and seventh innings.

Even though Samantha Dunn allowed eight runs over seven innings, she still recorded the victory. She struck out five, walked seven and gave up nine hits.

"We struggled with errors in the field for the majority of the game and had a hard time at the plate as well," Valdez said. "The Burbank girls were obviously fired up and made us work for the win."

The Knights scored seven runs in the 7th inning. The game ended in the bottom of the 7th with a double play by shortsop Araujo and first baseman vonStein. Araujo caught a line drive and flipped the ball to first, where the runner was off the base.