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By Loren Kopff
Sports Editor | Follow X
March 10, 2026
CYPRESS-If anything, Gahr High has been consistent through the first nine games of the season, winning the first three before going on a three-game skid. But when the Gladiators rallied twice against Cypress High to post an 8-5 victory this past Monday, they moved three games above .500 again. Gahr touched up Cypress pitcher Kylie Santander for five runs in the top of the fourth inning, then sophomore second baseman Mylah Burrowes broke a 5-5 tie in the seventh with a two-run single to left field.
“That was a big moment,” said Gahr head coach Rey Sanchez. “She had a really good at-bat against La Serna [on Mar. 4] also and hit a ball really hard and far. If we’re playing at Gahr, it’s out. They just have long fences there, and she drove the ball oppo. When she hits the ball to the opposite field, that’s when she’s the best. And where did that ball go [today]? Opposite field. So it was a really good at-bat; a really good approach for her and she hammered that ball to right center, and that was big. That emptied the bases.”
The inning began when freshman center fielder Skyy Saucedo reached on an error and two batters later, sophomore shortstop Hazel Anglo doubled to the left field gap. After senior first baseman Maryah McElroy grounded out, junior right fielder Leah Magana was safe on another error for the final run.
“I know they’re better than that,” said Sanchez of the errors from Cypress. “This is a great program and it’s a really good team that they have here at Cypress. We were fortunate that those plays went our way, and that’s what I tell the girls. On offense, when you hit the ball hard and you run the bases well, then you have a shot. We kept hitting the ball hard and we took advantage, and then Mylah Burrowes comes [up to bat] and hits another screamer; that shortstop wanted no part of that ball, but she hit the ball really hard.
“Mylah’s really stepped it up on the offensive side,” he continued. “Mentality-wise, she’s in a different place. She’s grown up in a year where she feels she’s the one that Gahr wants up there. I can just sense it; she has that sense of I’ve got this.”
The Gladiators thought they had set the tone in the first inning when Santander walked Anglo and Burrowes with one out, however Anglo was later caught in a rundown trying to score.
“She had two walks, and we ran ourselves out of that inning,” said Sanchez. “We should have taken advantage of that a little bit more, and we didn’t. We left them off the hook. She was teetering; she battled and did a good job of kind of hanging in there and going through her struggles because she wasn’t throwing strikes. But we have to be really good earlier in the game of taking advantage of that. Later in the game, we did. But it took us a little bit longer.”
Meanwhile, the Centurions redeemed themselves in the bottom half of the inning when Hayden Warner tripled to the right field corner, scoring Tia Hernandez. Maddie Gutierrez followed with a base hit on a fill count, bringing in Warner. Two innings later, Hernandez led off with first-pitch home run over the centerfield fence.
But Gahr came back the next inning in a big way, and it began with Santander walking Burrowes, then giving up first-pitch singles to McElroy and Magana to load the bases. Sophomore designated player Maya Moreau reached on an error and was replaced by junior pinch runner Jaidu De Avila Barroga. Senior left fielder Alexis Johnson then got into the action and ripped a double to center on a full count to plate McElroy and Magana.
Singles from freshman catcher Rylee Jackson and sophomore third baseman Megan Wong later in the frame made it 5-3.
However, Cypress tied the contest in the fifth as Sadie Sievers singled on the first pitch from junior pitcher Bella Gonzalez, who then served up a home run on a 1-0 count to Warner.
“I don’t have to say much to her because she’s a workhorse,” said Sanchez. “She’s been in so many of these tough situations, so she knows how to bounce back. Obviously, it wasn’t the best pitch call, so I’ll take the blame on that one. The girls got us, but to her credit, she comes back and she always does. She’s a bulldog.”
Gahr would see its winning streak snapped this past Tuesday in a 13-3 loss at La Habra High, which was highlighted by a 10-run bottom of the third inning, breaking a 3-3 tie. Gahr went to Huntington Beach High this past Wednesday and will not play again until it hosts Cerritos High on Thursday.
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