Home run sinks La Cañada softball in quarterfinals
WEST HILLS — It was a dramatic home run that catapulted the La Cañada High softball team into the CIF Southern Section playoff quarterfinals.
Unfortunately for the Spartans, it was a home run that denied them a chance to advance to the semifinals for the first time in six years.
A two-run home run in the fourth inning by Gabby Hensley lifted host Chaminade past the Spartans, 2-1, on Thursday at Chaminade Middle School in the quarters.
The loss ends the season for La Cañada (22-5-1), which captured the Rio Hondo League championship and advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2014. Last season, the Spartans lost in the first round.
The Spartans earned a spot in the quarterfinals with a walk-off home run Tuesday by Devyn Cox in a 1-0 victory against Maranatha.
“It was just one hit the made the difference, but that’s what happens sometimes when you get to this stage of the playoffs,” La Cañada coach Chuck Gunter said. “You have to have a little luck in the playoffs. We had a little luck in our last game with our home run and they had a little luck today with their home run.
“But despite today’s outcome, I’m really proud of these girls and the season that they’ve had. You could see that they were fighting to the very end there. They really put in the hard work this season.”
Trailing, 1-0, Chaminade (19-7), the Mission League champion, erased its deficit in the bottom of the fourth inning. First baseman Solana Segal led off the frame with a single to left-center, setting the stage for Hensley. The sophomore third baseman took the first pitch for a ball off La Cañada starting pitcher Holly Stoner and then deposited the next pitch just beyond the left-field fence for a two-run homer and a 2-1 Eagles lead.
“That at-bat I was just kind of calm and I took a deep breath because my last at-bat it was bases loaded and I got out so I was a little bit nervous,” Hensley said. “So I came up and I took like five breaths, waited for that one ball, which was a change-up, and it just popped right off the bat.
“When I saw it go over, it was just the greatest feeling ever.”
The runs broke a string of 16 scoreless innings for Stoner, who scattered six hits while striking out three and walking two.
The Spartans got to Chaminade starting pitcher Tessa Magnanimo early, getting one run on three hits to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Shortstop Emily Tinkham opened the game with a double to right-center field. The next batter, center fielder Maddy Riley, placed a perfect bunt that rolled between the pitcher and first base for a hit. Tinkham was running on the play and scored from second.
After giving up three hits in the opening inning, Magnanimo got into a groove, striking out 10 of the next 18 batters she would face. Magnanimo went the distance, allowing six hits, striking out 13 and not yielding a walk.
“The fight these girls have had since our first game is just amazing and they just will not let each other down,” said Chaminade coach Gina Hairapetian, whose team includes just three seniors. “I thought after we struggled a bit in the beginning [Magnanimo] got into a zone and when she gets into a zone nothing can stop her.”
La Cañada received a two-out double from first baseman Alexis Abboud in the third inning and third baseman Kathleen Knudsen singled to open the fourth and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Cox, the designated player. But in both instances, the Spartans came away empty.
The Spartans put the tying run on third with one out in the seventh inning. Cox started the frame with a ground-rule double to left field and was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by second baseman Emily Clarkson. However, the opportunity was squandered as Magnanimo struck out the final two batters to end the game.
“It was frustrating because we did have our chances,” Gunter said. “When we scored in that first inning, the excitement kind of shifted and things looked really good. But when she got that one hit on that two-run homer all the excitement shifted to them.”