LC girls’ softball loses games at SFV tourney
Participating in the San Fernando Valley Victory Spring Classic last Saturday, the La Cañada girls’ varsity softball team lost both games in C pool play at the Hjelte Sports Complex in Encino.
Newbury Park toppled the Spartans 6-2 in the first game and Granada Hills rolled over La Cañada 11-3 in the second game. The loses dropped the Spartans to 8-4 while their league record remained at 4-0.
The Spartans traveled to Temple City for a league contest on Tuesday, but no results were available at press time.
La Cañada will play at Monrovia in a league contest today (Thursday) at 3:30 p.m.
Against Granada Hills, The Spartans went out in front 1-0 with a run in the bottom of the second inning, but Granada Hills came back in the third with three runs to go up 3-1.
Granada Hills moved further ahead with a run in fifth inning and five more in the sixth. The Spartans responded with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Granada Hills got them back with two runs in the seventh.
Candace Ondrejcka went all the way for the Spartans and picked up the loss to fall to 5-3. She was pounded for 16 hits, including a home run and three doubles. To make matters worse, La Cañada made six errors behind her.
Lisa Leverton got the only extra base hit for the Spartans, a double. Fanny Halsey and Ondrejcka also got hits. La Cañada’s runs were scored by Lindsay Fuller, Kelly Streeter and Leverton.
In the Newbury Park contest, the Panthers scored runs in the first and second inning to lead 2-0 before the Spartans tied the score with two runs in the top of the third inning. However, in the bottom of the frame, Newbury Park scored a run to go back out in front to stay. The Panthers added three more runs in the sixth inning.
Ondrejcka went the distance, but had another bad outing as the Panthers bashed her around for 13 hits. She took the loss.
The Spartans managed only four hits, all singles by Erin Miller, Brianna Saraceno, Kristin Oechsel and Ashley Messenger. Saraceno and Oechsel also scored the only runs for La Cañada in the game.
The Spartans, after a layoff of more than two weeks mainly because of Spring Break, came back to shut out visiting South Pasadena 2-0 in Rio Hondo League action on April 15.
The Spartans almost waited too late to pull the game out as they didn’t score their two runs until the bottom of the sixth inning. It was a pitcher’s duel up until that point.
Ondrejcka started for the Spartans and went all the way for the victory. Improving to 5-1, she allowed only one hit, walked one and struck out three. Her opponent, Nikki Fillingham, was nearly as effective. She hurled six innings, gave up only two hits, two unearned runs, walked four and struck out six.
The Spartans scored on a two-run, two-out triple by Leverton. La Cañada’s other hit was a single by Saraceno.