Softball: Wurst, Bonita take down No. 1 Glendora

There will be a new team atop the East San Gabriel Valley area softball rankings on Wednesday. Bonita High School saw to that on Monday. Chloe Wurst tossed a one hitter and struck out 13 and the No. 2 Bearcats scored a 5-0 victory over No. 1 Glendora in a Charter Oak Tournament semifinal game that was halted after six innings due to the time-limit rule.


Bonita, also getting two RBIs from Liza Liddel, improved to 17-1-1 and advanced to face St. Lucy’s, a 6-0 winner over Montebello, in the championship game, scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Bearcats also avenged their only loss — a 5-2 setback to Glendora in early March. The Tartans fell to 13-3.
“It’s pride,” Bonita coach Ken Carlson said of the win. “They are a darn good ballclub over there. It’s a great benchmark for us. In order to be who we really want to be, we have to beat a team like that.
“We had to rise to their level, play them at their level, and I feel our ballclub did a great job of doing that today.”
Wurst did her part in the circle, dominating one of the better hitting teams in the area.
She retired the first 14 batters before giving up a bloop triple to Kendra Alfonso in the fifth to finish with the one hitter and the 13 strike outs.
“I just came out on fire and the defense backed me up,” said Wurst, who threw 78 pitches, 64 for strikes. “The thing about Glendora is they like to attack the ball on the first pitch.
“I tried to work ahead, and as soon as they were catching on to my rise ball, I had to change it up a little bit.”
The Bearcats then backed up their force in the circle with two runs in the fourth.
They loaded the bases on a singles by Wurst and Vanessa Romero and a walk to Ciara Liscano. Liddel, who went 2 for 3, then lined a single to center to score two runs for the 2-0 advantage.
“We knew if we could get into the short game, we’d have a really good chance of scoring some runs,” said Carlson, whose team put it away with three runs in the sixth for a 5-0 lead. “We’ve been hitting with the middle of our lineup and that’s what did it for us today.
“I knew once we got them back on their heals, we might get to them.”
Glendora had one look at the game following Aflonso’s triple in the fifth. But after Argyle worked the count to 2-2, Wurst got her looking to end the threat.
“I read the paper and a game like this, you’re playing for pride, playing for the San Gabriel Valley,” Glendora coach Reese Mitchell said. “It’s nice to be No. 1, but when it’s all said a done, the kids got to play, and Bonita did a great job today.”

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