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Huge seventh inning leads La Cañada softball by Monrovia

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MONROVIA — Entering the seventh inning of a tie game, the La Cañada High softball team searched for a break.

The Spartans got what they needed and parlayed it into a big inning in their Rio Hondo League opener against host Monrovia on Monday.

La Cañada scored four runs in the inning, highlighted by a strange fielder’s choice, to register an 8-4 win.

With the score tied at 4 and runners on second and third, La Cañada’s Tia Leidelmeijer reached on an infield single to load the bases. The Monrovia first baseman then threw the ball to the shortstop, who dropped the ball while trying to tag Shannon Loveless near second base. The miscue allowed Emily Clarkson, who began the inning with a single, to score to make it 5-4.

La Cañada (4-1) extended the lead to 8-4 on a bases-loaded double by Alexis Abboud en route to its 23rd straight league victory.

“It’s a game that had a little bit of everything and it came down to the final inning,” said La Cañada coach Chuck Gunter, whose team has won three straight league championships and is ranked third in CIF Southern Section Division V behind JW North and Aquinas. “We were definitely challenged and it’s a real good thing.

“We got the fifth run and the momentum shifted in our favor.”

Abboud finished with three hits to go along with two walks.

“It definitely was a nerve-wracking inning,” said Abboud, a first baseman. “We didn’t want to go into the bottom of the inning stilled tied, so we had to make some things happen.

“That first run turned out to be really helpful and then it was icing on the cake with the bases-loaded double. We have a lot of new players and we got a real good test.”

The Spartans took a 1-0 lead in the first on a single by Taryn Harris that scored Leidelmeijer. Monrovia (4-3-1, 0-1 in league) knotted it at 1 on a sacrifice fly to left by Jasmine Flores.

La Cañada took a 2-1 lead in the second on a single by Emily Tinkham that brought home Ella Polito. The Spartans extended the lead to 3-1 in the third on a single by Clarkson that scored Abboud.

The Wildcats scored three runs in the fourth to take a 4-3 lead. A ground-out by Sofia Arellano pulled Monrovia to within 3-2. A bloop double that landed just beyond third base by Kaitlyn Bush gave the Wildcats a 4-3 lead.

La Cañada knotted the score at 4 in the sixth on a single by Harris that scored Leidelmeijer.

“With our league, you can’t take anybody lightly,” Gunter said. “There’s a lot of teams who are close in talent and everybody is looking to steal one here and there. You’re never safe.”

Harris, Clarkson and Polito each finished with two hits for the Spartans, who will face the Wildcats again April 17 at La Cañada and April 20 at Monrovia.

Monrovia received a team-high three hits from Samantha Diaz.

La Cañada starting pitcher Holly Stoner went the distance, striking out seven. The right-hander allowed four earned runs and seven hits.

charles.rich@latimes.com

Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich

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