LAKEPORT — The last thing Clear Lake softball coach Gary Pickle ever expected was to run the table in the new North Central League I South.
“I didn”t think anyone could go undefeated,” Pickle said.
But that”s exactly what the Cardinals did, capping an 8-0 South season with an 11-0 victory over the Upper Lake Cougars on Friday in Lakeport, where it rained before the game and after game, just not during the game.
So in the Cardinals” case, when you”re hot, you”re hot.
With Clear Lake, Cloverdale and St. Vincent all part of the realigned Southern division of the NCL I, the softball race figured to be a good one and it was. Clear Lake swept Cloverdale and St. Vincent although all four games were closely contested. And depending on what happens at Sunday”s at-large and seeding meeting in Danville, the Cardinals could end up playing one or both of those teams again in the North Coast Section Class A playoffs, which begin next week.
“I”m hoping to get a No. 2 seed,” Pickle said of what he hopes to bring home from Danville.
The Cardinals, who close out the regular season 13-1, completed their clean sweep of the South in decisive fashion, jumping on Upper Lake (0-8 South, 8-12 overall) for six runs in the first inning. They added another run in the second and four more in the bottom of the fifth, at which point the game was called because of the mercy rule.
Winning pitcher Brittany Rumfelt was at the plate when the game ended. Trailing 9-0, the Cougars were trying to intentionally walk her with two outs and runners at second and third, but losing pitcher Courtney Gatton”s first pitch wasn”t far enough outside and Rumfelt singled back through the middle to score both runners.
Rumfelt tossed a three-hitter, struck out eight and walked none.
Haley Sanderson went 3-for-3 with an RBI to spark the Cardinals at the plate. Rumfelt finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs and Julie Jackson also went 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
