Brian Sumpter
Record-Bee sports editor
LAKEPORT – No detail is too small for a 26-0 squad on the verge of completing a perfect season, and so when two of the seniors on Clear Lake High School”s softball team stepped off the practice field for a final time on Friday afternoon, they added a nice parting touch.
Second baseman Kacie Hinchcliff and third baseman Jen Carley removed their own bases from the playing field and put them away, a chore usually reserved for the team”s freshmen at the conclusion of each day”s practice. To head coach Gary Pickle, they simply were doing what they”ve been doing since the start of practice in February, and since the beginning of their high school careers four years ago; taking care of business one base, one day and one game at a time.
“It”s not tradition,” Pickle said of Hinchcliff”s and Carley”s decision to retire their bases, the ones they”ve been guarding for four full varsity seasons. “It”s just something they wanted to do.”
Clear Lake”s business isn”t quite done yet. Today at 1 p.m. in Vallejo, the Cardinals play No. 1 seed St. Patrick/St. Vincent High School for the North Coast Section Class A championship. The No. 1-seeded Bruins (24-1) are trying to repeat as section champions and the No. 2-seeded Cardinals are standing directly in their path.
St. Patrick/St. Vincent was the last team to beat Clear Lake, a 3-1 victory in last year”s semifinals at Lakeport. In fact, the Cardinals were the only team to score a run against the Bruins in the 2006 playoffs. Clear Lake can repeat that feat again today since St. Patrick/St. Vincent has won each of its first two games by scores of 5-0 (over Marin Academy) and 8-0 (over St. Vincent of Petaluma).
Clear Lake advanced to today”s championship game with a 14-1 win over Salesian in the first round and a 3-0 victory over Marin Catholic in the semifinals.
Pickle said he had no pearls of wisdom for his players during their final practice Friday, one that started slow but picked up steam as it went along, with batting practice pitcher Brittany Mills the target of the team”s good-natured ribbing.
“She brought her boyfriend to practice with her,” Pickle said. “We couldn”t let her get away with that,” Pickle added of Mills, a 2002 graduate who led the Cardinals to the Class A title her senior season.
Pickle didn”t escape unscathed either. When practice was over, he couldn”t find his truck.
“It wasn”t where I parked it,” Pickle said. “I thought it had been stolen.”
Actually, the truck had relocated to a lower parking lot at the school, moved on the sly by a senior who also happens to be the team”s star pitcher, Brittany Rumfelt.
“She”s got quite a senor of humor,” Pickle said. “She”s the one I found lying under my truck last season after they (team players) had TPd my house.”
As to the business at hand, today”s game against St. Patrick/St. Vincent, Pickle said the Cardinals simply need to do what they”ve been doing all season, play hard and play well.
“I just reminded them of how we got here,” Pickle said. “We”ve gotten to this point by playing one game at a time and now we”ve got one game left to play.”
Three months ago, Pickle said he thought the Cardinals had a chance to reach the Class A final, but not with an undefeated record.
“We have a chance to go 27-0 … not in my wildest dreams did I think about doing that,” Pickle said. “But when you”re 24-0 (Clear Lake”s record at the end of the regular season), if you don”t get to the championship game, you almost feel like you haven”t accomplished everything you set out to do.”
Pickle”s 2007 squad is probably the most rounded Clear Lake team he”s coached in his 15 seasons. “It”s the best hitting team I”ve had and the fastest one as a group. It”s not the best defensive team, but it”s up there.”
Clear Lake”s 2001 and ?02 squads also reached the finals, but Pickle said both of those teams “had holes” and this one doesn”t.
“No weaknesses,” Pickle said.
This team also stands apart from all his others in another area.
“This is the most fun year I”ve had coaching,” Pickle said. “This group is really something else.”
If the Cardinals win today to complete a storybook ending to their season or suffer their first loss, Pickle said he”s sure of one thing.
“There”s no loser tomorrow, no loser.”
