PETALUMA — Clear Lake first baseman Amanda Espinoza reached base in all four of her plate appearances and circled the bases during one at-bat on Tuesday as the Cardinals survived a two-run St. Vincent seventh inning to beat the Mustangs 3-2 and clinch the undisputed North Central League I South softball title in Petaluma.
The Cardinals (7-0 South, 12-1 overall) are guaranteed of a berth in next week”s North Coast Section Class A playoffs regardless of how they fare on Friday against Upper Lake in their regular-season finale.
“I did not want to go into the Upper Lake game having to win,” Clear Lake coach Gary Pickle said. “I”m glad we wrapped it up.”
It was a scoreless game in the top of the third inning when Espinoza worked the count full against St. Vincent pitcher Shawna Hettrich. She fouled off a handful of pitches before homering over the fence in left field.
“She hit it well … it might have been out here (at Lakeport),” Pickle said.
Espinoza also drew three walks. The final one came in the top of the seventh when she was leading off the inning. She moved up on a sacrifice bunt, took third on a groundout and scored on a throwing error by the St. Vincent first baseman. It turned out to be the winning run as things turned out.
St. Vincent rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh before winning pitcher Brittany Rumfelt closed the door on the Mustangs (3-3). Rumfelt struck out five and walked none, while Hettrich struck out five and walked six.
Rumfelt also went 2-for-3 at the plate with a run scored. Emilee Meyer went 2-for-4.
Clear Lake stranded 13 runners.
“We left people on bases all night long,” Pickle said. “We played a good game, but we just didn”t get the key hit. She (Hettrich) pitched her way out of trouble a bunch of times.”
