By Brandon HENSLEY

A    shaky infield defense and a lack of offense contributed to the Crescenta Valley High School baseball team’s shutout loss Tuesday night against the Pasadena Bulldogs, 3-0.

It certainly was not the way the Falcons had hoped to open the Pacific League portion of the schedule. The Falcons dropped their record to 7-7 overall. They lost only two games in league last season on their way to a share of the championship, so they’re already halfway to that total.

They play at Burroughs High School on Friday.

It was the second inning that doomed Crescenta Valley when Pasadena (9-3-1, 1-0 in league) scored all of its runs off starting pitcher Brian Gadsby.

Alex Baer opened the inning with an infield single. It only got worse from there as Gadsby fielded a bunt from the next batter Daniel Richman, and threw to second base to get Baer, but the throw was off and he was safe. Gadsby walked the next batter and the bases were loaded.

Two runs came home on an error by second baseman Ryan Lynch, and another run came home later on another wild pitch by Gadsby, who also bobbled a bunt in the inning that led to the bases being loaded again.

Gadsby did manage to contain the damage after that, as he was able to coax three consecutive outs with the bases full. He pitched well the rest of the way, going seven innings, giving up five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.

His counterpart, Niko Lopez, was just a bit better. Lopez pitched six innings and gave up six hits with no runs. He struck out five and walked two batters.

The Falcons never really threatened the game. They had the leadoff man aboard just once, when centerfielder Bryan Wang singled in the third inning. The best chance to score was in the first, when Austin Brines singled to left field. Freshman catcher Kewin Ledesma tried to score from second base on the play, but was thrown out at home.

The Falcons hit the ball hard in the fifth inning, as Wang, Adrian Damla and Michael Russo all scorched balls to the outfield, but right into the gloves of the outfielders.

Crescenta Valley recently finished a tough two-game series with one of Division I’s top-ranked teams, Loyola. The Falcons lost both games, 7-5 and 9-2. After Burroughs on Friday, they travel to Glendale on Tuesday for a 3:30 p.m. matchup with the Nitros.

Softball
The CV softball team opened up Pacific League play with a 10-0 victory over Pasadena on Tuesday, improving its record to 5-3 overall. The Lady Falcons play host to Burroughs High School today at 3:15 p.m.

The team recently played in the Woodbridge Classic in Irvine, and lost to North 5-1 and Hart 5-3, but bounced back and beat Fullerton 5-3. The Falcons are scheduled to play more games in the tournament on Saturday before returning to league play when they host Glendale on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.

  Brandon Hensley, Dan HOLM