There’s been a lot of “he said, she said” as to why Arcadia and Monrovia didn’t play in the third-place game of the Elks Tournament. I wondered about it, too, and thought if they played it would have made for a really good game. It didn’t happen, and there is a reason to it. Arcadia expressed interest in moving the time to 3 p.m. at Monrovia. The Wildcats declined. Arcadia suggested moving it to 7 p.m. at Arcadia. The Wildcats declined. “We had some kids who were going to take the SATs,” Arcadia coach Nick Lemas said. “I wanted to play the best team out there, and Monrovia was the best team available. But we weren’t able to get our whole team. What’s the point if I don’t have my guys. I don’t think the kids should have been punished for taking the SATs.” Jeff Kim and Haram Park were two of the kids taking the SATs that morning, and Kim was salted to pitch in the third-place game. “I think the fans and kids would have enjoyed it,” Lemas said. “We got Pasadena Poly, who is a quality opponent, so it all worked out.” Monrovia also had some kids taking the SATs, but despite that there was no sense in moving the time of the game for a few players, given the schedule is made out since November and game officials are told ahead of time the final Saturday games are played at 11 a.m. “If you have a team like St. Francis or Arcadia or somebody else that can play at night, they ask us if we can move it and if the officials say yes, then they can move the game,” Monrovia co-head coach Brad Blackmore said. “Once Arcadia lost and we lost, we’re playing (Arcadia) at our place at 11 a.m.” So, because Monrovia is one of three host teams (Temple City and Alhambra are the others) the game is at Monrovia at 11 a.m. by default. There’s no budging there. Monrovia felt it didn’t have to move the game, no less its site. Both coaches agreed that at this point if they couldn’t come up with a resolution, then both teams would play teams that were available for their schedules. Monrovia played and beat Western Christian and Arcadia played and beat Pasadena Poly. Both teams got their fifth game in and worked their pitchers before the start of league. Monrovia opens Friday at home against South Pas. Arcadia opens on the 23rd at Hoover.