DOWNEY - The Downey High School girls' softball team currently has an overall record of 16-10 and are 4-3 in San Gabriel Valley League play.The Lady Vikings were defeated by cross-town rival Warren at Warren last Thursday 3-2 after losing the first game in another one run nail-biter to Warren at Downey 9-8 on 4/9. The Lady Vikings lost to Chaminade 11-3 and Burbank 8-1 last Saturday at the Thousand Oaks Tournament in Thousand Oaks. Interestingly, Burbank was the same team that knocked Downey out of the C.I.F. Division III playoffs last year in the second round. Downey defeated Gahr at Gahr 4-1 on Tuesday and hosted Paramount yesterday (score unavailable at press time). The Paramount contest is important to the Lady Vikings because they lost to Paramount at Paramount 3-2 on 4/16 and can knock the unbeaten Lady Pirates out of sole possession of first place with a win. The Lady Vikings will conclude their S.G.V.L. schedule by playing at Dominguez on 5/7 and by hosting Lynwood on 5/9. The Lady Vikings should have little trouble in defeating the Lady Knights and Lady Dons, respectively. As the season concludes, the Lady Vikings will wait for the C.I.F. Division III playoff bracket to be released. Downey will be the S.G.V.L. number three team and will most likely be on the road to start the playoffs. If Warren can defeat Paramount at Warren on 5/7, the Lady Bears will earn the number one league seed with a likely record of 9-1. Warren will earn that top league spot by virtue of defeating Paramount in the second round of league play and Paramount will finish in second. There certainly is some important softball yet to be played in the San Gabriel Valley League.

********** Published: May 2, 2013 - Volume 12 - Issue 03