Sluggish Alemany Beats Inexperienced Sylmar, 3-1

SYLMAR — There were as many errors as runs during Alemany High’s 3-1 victory over Sylmar on Tuesday in a nonleague softball game.

After a week of rain, nobody expected perfection. But Alemany pitcher Sofie Contreraz said she expected a better effort.

“From the first inning, we weren’t up,” Contreraz said. “We didn’t have that intensity and Sylmar did. We have the best team Alemany has ever had. We expected to beat them by a lot.”

The Indians (4-0) are ranked No. 1 in The Times’ Valley poll. They fielded three All-Valley players--Contreraz, Esmeralda Macias and Jamie Moore--against Sylmar (3-2), which starts only one senior.

Macias and Moore contributed only one hit in eight at-bats, but Contreraz (4-0) was strong. The senior right-hander had eight strikeouts, and threw 64 strikes in 84 pitches while allowing an unearned run and five hits.

Pitcher Cherise Espinosa (2-1) gave Sylmar a 1-0 lead by scoring on a wild pitch in the second inning.

Alemany scored unearned runs in the fourth and fifth and added the only earned run in the sixth on a double by Tammy Alcantar and a single by Gloria Dominguez.