LA CAADA-FLINTRIDGE – Anna Edwards celebrated her 18th birthday with a bang.

Check that – bang, bang.

The senior shortstop went 4 for 4 with two home runs and three RBIs to lift La Caada (6-3, 3-0) to a 6-0 win over Temple City (8-4, 1-1) in Rio Hondo League play Wednesday.

Fellow senior Lauren O’Leary flirted with a no-hitter through six innings, but her bid fell short for the second time in as many days. O’Leary drew praise from a modest Edwards anyway.

“She’s been great,” Edwards said. “Without her, there’s no La Caada.”

O’Leary struck out four and allowed two hits in the seventh, the first coming on a miscue when nobody covered first and the second on a single to right field. Temple City’s Kristin Hudak and Jessica Loicano recorded the hits and put a damper on what otherwise would have been a near-perfect day for the Spartans. That much was accentuated when news came moments after the game ended that senior Kayla McCue had been accepted to Harvard. She already had been accepted to MIT and Caltech, prompting La Caada coach KC Mathews to jokingly say, “Half the team is smarter than I am, or maybe three quarters of it.”

Catherine Horner also homered in the first and Edwards added a two- run home run in the second to pad the lead.

Temple City coach Bob Ellingsworth said the Spartans’ surge in confidence played a role in the Rams’ demise.

“You have to play with confidence,” he said.