Burlingame rallies early, downs Woodside in PAL Bay softball opener

Leadoff hitter Giana Johnson went 2 for 4 with singles in each of her first two at-bats, and speedy No. 2 hitter Madeline Koo went 3 for 3 with three infield singles and walk. Both provided a major spark with senior Lily Grenier — a .325 career hitter entering this year — out of the starting lineup.

“This is two games in a row they’ve set [the table] pretty good,” Burlingame first-year head coach Al Del Rosso said.

Koo is a recent varsity call-up, and has been slap-hitting up a storm for the Panthers. In four games, the left-handed hitting freshman is 6 for 12 with six runs scored. Tuesday’s three-hit effort is a new career high. And her small-ball approach was central to every run-scoring rally for Burlingame, including a five-run first.

After Johnson led off the game with a sharp single to right, Koo showed off her wheels by reaching on a bunt single. Olivia Fleming cashed in with an RBI single to center, and Koo later raced home on a wild pitch to make it 2-0. After Keira Parker reached on an error, Kelley Flennikan shot a single to left-center to score Fleming. Hailey Miller then delivered a two-run double up the left-center gap to cap the rally.

In the second, Johnson again led off with a single, and Koo followed with a four-pitch walk. After a sacrifice fly by Fleming scored Johnson, Koo scored all the way from second on a wild pitch, taking third when the pitch went to the backstop, and breaking home when the throw from the catcher back to the pitcher was a little off line to make it 7-0.

“A big difference,” Del Rosso said of Koo’s addition to the lineup.

Woodside, though, made a game of it by answering back with four runs in the bottom of the inning. The Wildcats, too, were without one of their best players in the starting nine, as junior catcher Lacey Barstad was out of action due to a non-softball injury. Woodside head coach Alexa Daines said Barstad’s timetable for return is uncertain.

With Woodside (0-1, 4-3) hitting .317 as a team, Barstad ranks second on the team with a .417 average. So, the Wildcats used the bottom of the order to make noise in the second, getting on the board on a two-run single by No. 8 hitter Kate Gray. Then with runners on first and second, the lead runner Hannah Walker scored from second base when the Burlingame catcher attempted a back-pick at first base; Walker immediately broke for third base to draw a throw and, when it was offline, motored home. No. 9 hitter Kaitlyn Jackson followed with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 7-4.

The Wildcats added another run in the third with Caroline Ong singling home Vanessa Carlos to make it 7-5.

“This group so far ... even if we’re getting down early, there’s still a lot of fight,” Daines said. “A lot more fight in this group than we’ve had in previous years, and the hunger is there. We’ve had a rough couple years, the last two seasons specifically, and there’s more fight with our older girls, and the younger girls are hungry too. ... There was a lot of heart and a lot of fight today.”

Burlingame starting pitcher Kasey Lyons turned the tide though. The senior right-hander worked four innings to earn the win. And after Ong’s RBI single, Lyons set down the last six batters she faced, using a paralyzing changeup to lock up Woodside’s red-hot lineup.

Junior reliever Tatiana Moraga worked the last three innings, and also flashed an effective changeup.

“Kasey definitely has the slower one,” Del Rosso said. “Both of them threw it pretty effectively today. Our catchers are getting used to catching both of them.”

Moraga agreed that Lyons’ changeup — one that sometimes borders on an eephus pitch — is the most impressive.

“I see it from second base, the batters, they don’t have time to react because they’re so tricked by it, which is really good,” Moraga said.

Lyons’ stop job helped Burlingame take back control at the plate. After Lyons escaped the third inning while surrendering just one run, the Panthers fired back with two runs in the fourth. Moraga had the big hit, an RBI that kicked up chalk down the right-field line.

“We just wanted to stay consistent,” Moraga said. “We just want to try to score one to two runs every inning to help us so we don’t get stumped or anything. So, I think just making good contact every inning and every at-bat really helps.”

Moraga surrendered one run on an RBI single by Jackson in the sixth. But in the seventh, the Burlingame defense bailed her out with two nice plays. Miller, the right fielder, made a nice running catch on a shallow blooper off the bat of Carlos to open the inning. Then second baseman Sienna Fuss robbed Kelly Baek of a single with a diving backhanded stop, before spinning to her knees to make a crisp throw to first to get Baek by a step.

“She’s got a plus arm, and it helps her a lot,” Del Rosso said. “And she’s just a good, coordinated player, and pretty quick to the ball.”

Ong extended the game with a two-out infield single — the freshman’s third hit of the day — but Moraga closed it out by notching a game-ending strikeout with a vicious changeup to coax a called third strike.

“Kasey’s and Tati’s off-speed is dirty,” Daines said. “A couple could have probably gotten called either way, but they’re a team that’s hungry as well — right? We’ve kind of been at the bottom of the barrel the last couple years, and they’ve got a great new coaching staff that seems like they’re really turning things around. So, it’s one game, and they’re competitive and they’re hungry. And we’re excited to see them again the second half of league.”