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ANAHEIM – An all-star game ideally is an evenly matched contest. That’s what the Orange County All-Star Baseball Game was Monday.

The North and South played to an 8-8 tie in 11 innings at La Palma Park’s Dee Fee Field. It is the first of 47 county all-star games to end in a tie.

The game, which is organized and managed by the Kiwanis Club of Greater Anaheim for charity, was also one of the wilder all-star games in county baseball history.

The teams traded the lead a couple of times before the South tied it in the sixth. The South grabbed the lead in the eighth, but the North scored four in the bottom of the eighth to re-take the lead.

The North took the lead thanks to a couple of bases-loaded walks, an infield error and hit batter. That gave the North an 8-7 lead.

The South tied it in the ninth. Justin Fowler of Aliso Niguel led off with a double and advanced to third base on a single by Capistrano Valley Christian’s Parker Coss. Grant Wilhelm hit an infield pop fly caught by North pitcher Danny Garcia of Century. Coss inexplicably tried to tag up from first base on the play, and Garcia’s throw to second base was wild and enabled Fowler to score and tie it, 8-8.

The game’s coaches decided after the 10th inning to stop the game if it was still tied after 11 innings.

The offensive action started early.

Beckman’s Jake Hazard, the game’s first batter, walked and went to third on a double by Preston GrandPre of Laguna Beach. Coss drove in Hazard with a sacrifice fly. GrandPre scored on an error.

The North went ahead with a three-run third inning. Zach Huarte of Servite had a two-run single and Elijah Skipps drove in the other run with a single.

Jacob Wong of Capistrano Valley hit a solo home run in the fourth inning to tie it, 3-3.

A couple of recent draftees did not participate in the game. Among them was Orange Lutheran shortstop Josh Morgan who was selected by the Texas Rangers in last week’s draft. He was in Texas on Monday with plans to sign with the Rangers during his visit.

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com