The562’s coverage of Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
The562’s coverage of Millikan Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Brian Ramsey and TLD Law.
After this week’s heatwave postponed Millikan’s Moore League opener, the Rams wasted no time taking the lead as they defeated Lakewood 9-0 on Thursday night with a pair of crooked innings.
Kayla Cisneros opened the game with a lead-off walk in the first inning and the Rams jumped to took advantage of the free base after an RBI double from Lauryn Kim and an RBI single by Addy Everrett to go up 2-0. Riley McAndrew helped herself with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.
McAndrew made quick work in the bottom of the inning retiring Lakewood in order. It was a nice start for the senior who has been the Rams’ lead pitcher to start the season after playing a majority of the time at second base and pitching situationally.
“Pitching is kind of a different role,” McAndrew said of being the lead pitcher this season. “I’m kind of settling into that.”
Lakewood starter Bella Polanco and McAndrew sat the order down in order to keep the score the same after the second inning.
Addy Everrett got Millikan on the board again in the third inning with a solo blast to left field to put the Rams up 4-0 with one out. Maya Hernandez followed with a single and McAndrew pushed a run across with an RBI double to put the Rams up 7-0.
Senior Peyton Dobrovolny added two more runs with a 2-run triple as Millikan took a 7-0 lead in the top half of the third inning.
“I felt like we performed really well as a team,” Millikan coach Michelle Lehr said.
Lakewood got their first baserunner in the third inning after Polanco earned a walk, but McAndrew stranded the runner. Millikan added to their lead in the fourth after Mia Meza led off the inning with a single and scored after Everrett hit a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 8-0.
“I think we know that we can only control our controllables, so we have to adjust midgame,” Lehr of her team’s performance at the plate. “If the umpire zone is high, we’ve got to jump on the first pitch early and not get ourselves in the hole with two strikes and then they’re calling pitches at the letters or sometimes even above the letters.”
Millikan’s bats remained hot in the sixth after back-to-back single from Cisneros and Meza. An error allowed Meza to score to make it 9-0 after the sixth.
In the sixth inning Lakewood loaded the bases but McAndrew was able to get out of a bases loaded jam. McAndrew finished the night with a statline of 6IP, 0 runs, 2 hits and went 2-4 from the plates with 2 RBIs.
“It’s her maturity and the fact that she’s unaffected,” Lehr said of McAndrew in the circle. “She’s probably been one of the most unlucky hitters so far this season. She’s barreled ball after ball right to someone. When she gets an opportunity for a sac fly, someone drops a routine fly ball, so that goes as an error instead of a sac fly.
“But it hasn’t affected her in the circle,” Lehr added. “She’s still dealing every day. For me, it’s her maturity and her headspace. She’s not getting rattled. That gives me the most confidence. No matter what happens offensively, she’s been very steady for us in the circle.”
Jade Torres took over in the seventh to close out the game for Millikan, but Lakewood continued to battle. After singles from Elise De La Torre and Mia Gastelum Lakewood had two runners with no outs.
Both runners advanced after a past ball, but Torres battled with back-to-back strikeouts to put Millikan one out away from the shutout. However, Polanco loaded the bases when she drew a walk.
Torres got out of the inning after Jaszee Childress hit into a fielder’s choice to end the game.
“The girls did battle and put back-to-back hits together,” Lakewood coach Andy Miramontes said. “Still, we’ve got to cash them in. If we cash them in, we have a chance, and we didn’t do that. We didn’t play our best game and started off really slow, to be honest with you – a walk, an error and another one in the outfield. That’s tough because it leads to momentum.”
Lakewood is back in action when they host Coronado on Friday and Millikan continues Moore League action when they host Compton next Tuesday.
