CLOVERDALE — The Cloverdale Eagles scored five runs in the first three innings and went on to beat the Middletown Mustangs 9-2 in the opening round of the Cloverdale Softball Tournament on Thursday in Cloverdale.
Middletown (3-7) returns to action Saturday against Salesian at 9 a.m. The Mustangs will play another game later that afternoon.
Nikeedra Davis and Kayla Dilks drove in Middletown”s runs in the bottom of the fifth as the Mustangs closed the gap to 5-2. The Eagles put the game away with four runs in the top of the sixth.
The game was called after six complete innings because of tournament time constraints.
Julia Leathers went 2-for-4 with a double and Alicia Siri went 2-for-3 with a double for Middletown, which was coming off a heartbreaker of sorts on Wednesday, an 18-11 loss in eight innings to Justin-Siena at Middletown.
Middletown scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at 9 and force extra innings, but Justin-Siena erupted for nine runs in the top of the eighth to win.
“Just call it the Middletown meltdown,” Middletown coach Lisa Rogers said. “We seem to have one of those innings in our games.”
Middletown banged out 15 hits and was led by Siri (3-for-3) and Jacquie Tobin (3-for-5, double, 3 RBIs). Dilks, Amber Lofton and Sam Senseney added two hits apiece.
