Burlingame softball beats Menlo-Atherton to take over Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division

M-A (7-2 PAL Ocean, 18-4 overall) came into the game averaging 10.5 runs per game, having scored in double digits 15 times over 21 games this year.

But the combination of starting pitcher Kiley Lyons, and relievers Aditi Bafna and Brooke Arce, did what no team has done this season — shut out the Bears, combining on a no-hitter in the process.

“Oh my gosh. I didn’t know that,” Lyons said when told Burlingame (7-1, 14-8) had held the Bears hitless.

“I’ll take that.”

Lyons said the Panthers’ rotation does not have a designated starter for each game of the week, but the junior captain was glad to get the call Tuesday.

“I knew this was a big opportunity for us,” Lyons said. “I felt really good.”

She was feeling even better after her offense staked her to a 4-0 lead before she even toed the pitching slab. The Panthers took advantage of some shaky defense by M-A to score three unearned runs in the top of the first.

The Panthers pitching took care of the rest. Lyons didn’t get off to the greatest start, hitting M-A leadoff hitter Gracy Nava with the first pitch — who hit Burlingame leadoff counterpart, Maddy Koo with the very first pitch of the game.

But the Bears could not take advantage of the leadoff base runner. After a flyout, Lyons got a 6-4-3 double play ground ball to end the inning. In the bottom of the second, M-A’s Olivia Rodgers hit a shin-high line drive to right field that hit the rightfielder’s glove right in the pocket, only to pop out for an error.

M-A hit the ball hard against Lyons, but they were at-em balls to the Burlingame defense. Those would be the only base runners Lyons would allow in four innings of work.

Banfa came on to pitch in the top of the fifth and like Lyons, hit the first batter she faced on a 1-2 pitch. And like Lyons, she got a tailor-made ground ball to shortstop Alexis Mah, who took it to the second-base bag herself before throwing on to first for a 6-3 double play. A flyout to right ended the inning.

Banfa pitched a 1-2-3 sixth before giving way to Arce in the seventh and the hard-throwing sophomore completed the no-no by setting the Bears down in order.

“[Lyons] has been throwing the ball great the last few weeks,” said Burlingame head coach Al Del Rosso. “(All three) hit their spots really good. We’ve been using that (pitching) recipe a little bit recently.”

Offensively, the Panthers did the bulk of their damage in first inning. After Koo was hit by a pitch from Nava to open the game, she immediately put the pressure on the M-A defense. With Mah at the plate, Koo took off for second on the first pitch, only to have to hustle back to first as Mah flew out to right field.

Arce followed with a walk and Olivia Delucchi loaded the bases on an error. That brought Lyons to the plate, who helped her own cause by lifting a sacrifice fly to left to drive in Koo with the game’s first run.

But the Panthers weren’t done, scoring three more runs on two more M-A errors. Sam Arce followed and reached on an error, with her sister, Brooke, scoring along with Delucchi when the Bears committed a second error on the play and Sam Arce taking second on the throw. Kendall Gorshen then doubled in Sam Arce to cap the four-run inning.

Del Rosso said he was excited when Koo got hit by the pitch because he knew she can create havoc on the bases.

“She can go (steal a base) whenever she wants,” Del Rosso said. “[Her getting hit by a pitch leading off] just kick-started the whole team.”

The Panthers added another run in the second as they took advantage of two walks and Lyons’ second RBI of the game to go up 5-0.

Nava settled in after that, limiting the Panthers to just one hit combined in the third and fourth, but the Burlingame scored single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh on RBIs from Colette Uharriet, Delucchi and Brooke Arce to round out the scoring.

Despite moving into first place, there is still work to do. Burlingame still has games left this week, at Sequoia Thursday and wrapping up the regular-season by hosting Terra Nova Friday. The Panthers beat both teams the first time around this season, but Del Rosso is not thinking this thing over.

Not by a long shot.

“I’ve seen too many things go wrong,” Del Rosso said.

M-A, on the other hand, has just one game remaining, Thursday against Notre Dame-SJ. The Bears need to win that game and then get some help if they want to share the Ocean Division title.

But with the top two Ocean Division finishers earning automatic bids to CCS, a Bears’ win Thursday would punch their ticket to the playoffs.