By Josh Lowden
(Temple City) – Late in games, mistakes can cost a team.
A Monrovia error allowed Jessica Loicano the winning run to end the game, giving Temple City a 6-5 victory after 11 innings of play.
“With Monrovia, it doesn’t matter who’s struggling and who’s not. It’s always a battle,” said Temple City coach Bob Ellingsworth. “When they were ranked number one in CIF and going undefeated, it was one run battles. When we were peaking and taking league, it was a one run battle. It’s the nature of the game.”
The Lady Cats found themselves down from the start.
Sami Jakeway hit a double to bring in Sami Ortega in the first to open up the scoring for the Rams.
Jasmine Lewis continued the momentum in the second inning with a single and advanced on an illegal pitch by Monrovia pitcher Adrienne Guerra. Alex Quinones singled in Lewis for the second run of the game.
Temple City scored once again in the third with Kirstie Hubbell scoring on a Schynder single.
Monrovia would be down but not out.
With Guerra and Stephanie Garcia on base, Kelly Williams connected on a single to centerfield to load the bases. Elise Mccarthy came up huge with a triple to tie the game. Schae Simpson, who was phenomenal batting, followed up with a homerun, giving the Lady Cats their first and only lead of the game.
Simpson would go five for five in the game.
However, the Rams would battle right back.
After Ortega reached base on an errorr, Loiacano showed why she is one of the best in the area, hitting a homerun to tie the game up. Guerra was relieved by Emmy Orozco who quickly ended the inning before anymore damage could be done.
The Lady Cats had chances take the lead, but did not take advantage.
In both the sixth and seventh inning, Monrovia had a player on third with two outs. On both occasions, Loiacano was able to end the threat by striking out the next batter.
Temple City caught a break in the ninth. Stephanie Garcia appeared to score off a Simpson single. However, the ball hit Mccarthy as she was advancing to second, imposing a dead ball and nullifying the score.
“It wasn’t in the last inning that we lost the game,” said Coach Randy Medina. “We lost the game in the five through ten. From the fifth inning on, we didn’t produce hits. We had opportunities, but we failed.”
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