UPPER LAKE — Courtney Gatton tossed a gem of a ballgame and the Upper Lake Cougars certainly made the St. Vincent Mustangs work for their 4-1 North Central League I South softball victory on Friday afternoon in Upper Lake.
Gatton allowed only eight baserunners, one of which was erased on a 6-2-3 double play. She allowed six hits, struck out five and walked none.
“She was changing speeds and working it inside and outside a little bit,” Upper Lake coach Craig Kinser said. “She threw some really nice changeups today.”
St. Vincent (3-2 South) grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the second, including a lead-off home run by winning pitcher Shawna Hettrich. Upper Lake (0-7 South, 7-10 overall) halved that deficit with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Crystal Snyder led off with a single, moved up to second on a sacrifice, took third on a passed ball and scored on Caty Falge”s double to left-center field.
It remained a one-run game until the top of the seventh when St. Vincent”s Danielle Frisk homered to make it 3-1. The Mustangs added an unearned run to go up by three.
“We played good defense and didn”t have that one blowout inning,” Kinser said.
Upper Lake mounted a couple of other threats against Hettrich, getting a runner as far as third base in the fifth inning and putting runners at the corners in the seventh.
Falge went 2-for-3 for the Cougars, who host Willits on Tuesday.
