KELSEYVILLE — A familiar face returned to the Kelseyville High School dugout on Friday as the Knights battled hard before dropping a 7-5 decision to the Fort Bragg Timberwolves in North Central League I North varsity baseball action at Lloyd Larson Field in Kelseyville.
Longtime head coach Steve Olson, who retired followed the 2006 season, replaced Lou Poloni in the Kelseyville dugout. Poloni was serving a one-game suspension after being ejected in the Knights” previous game, a 9-6 loss at Middletown on April 25.
“He was fired up,” Poloni said of Olson, who coached the Knights for 19 seasons. “He needs to be coaching.”
Fort Bragg, the undefeated North leader at 5-0, scored twice in the top of the first against losing pitcher Mike Duman and never looked back although the Knights pulled to within a run of the Timberwolves on three different occasions.
“The kids played real well,” Poloni said. “We had lots of big two-out hits, just not enough of them.”
Duman went the distance on the mound for Kelseyville (1-4, 9-12), allowing just three earned runs runs, striking out seven and walking three.
Everett James pitched the final two innings to record the save for Fort Bragg. He struck out the side in the seventh.
Duman went 2-for-3 with a double, triple and a RBI for Kelseyville, Justin Lilly went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and Tommy Mingori homered to left field leading off the bottom of the second.
In other action Friday:
Clear Lake 10, Lower Lake 3
At Lower Lake, Zane Butler went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs and Mike Zimmerman went 2-for-5 with two RBIs as the Clear Lake Cardinals, preparing for their biggest week of the season, beat the Lower Lake Trojans in NCL I interlock action.
Clear Lake (15-5) travels to Cloverdale on Tuesday and to St. Vincent on Friday for two huge NCL I South games that may well determine whether or not the team qualifies for the North Coast Section Class A playoffs later this month.
“It was a good tune-up for us,” Clear Lake coach Paul Larrea said.
Clear Lake scored two runs in each of the first three innings to build a 6-2 lead.
Winning pitcher Corey Dillon worked 2 1/3 innings before giving way to reliever Roman Rose, who pitched the final 4 2/3. He allowed only his second earned run of the season in 15 2/3 innings.
Lower Lake (3-15) pounded out nine hits, including two each by Jake Sanders and Jesus Fonseca, but errors and baserunning mistakes hurt the Trojans” chances, according to coach Chris Emberson.
“We made too many errors, one of them a dropped fly ball in the second inning, and we ran ourselves out of a few innings,” Emberson said.
Ryan Richardson and Nick Jordan each went 2-for-4 with a RBI for Clear Lake, which had 12 hits in all.
Stephen Whitcomb, the first of three Lower Lake pitchers, took the loss.
Clear Lake senior Derek Milhaupt celebrated his 18th birthday.
St. Helena 8, Upper Lake 1
At St. Helena, the host St. Helena Saints led 8-0 after four innings and went on to beat Upper Lake in NCL I South action.
Losing pitcher Jayce Meri worked the first 3 2/3 innings, allowing only three hits but walking eight as the Cougars fell to 0-5 in the South standings and 5-14 overall.
Upper Lake had five hits, all singles, and finally broke up St. Helena”s bid for a shutout with an unearned run in the top of the sixth.
Meri, Joe Barnes, Jordan Hickey, Devin Callen and Sloan Henning had Upper Lake”s hits.
Willits 12, Middletown 4
At Middletown, the Middletown Mustangs built a 4-0 lead before Tyler Brinkerhoff”s three-run home run in the bottom of the second rallied the Willits Wolverines to a lopsided NCL I North win.
Four Middletown pitchers combined to walk 13 batters.
“Free bases, can”t survive that,” Middletown coach Mitch Tucker said.
After Brinkerhoff”s home run cut Middletown”s lead to 4-3, Willits tied the game with a run in the fourth and then broke things open with an eight-run fifth.
Johnny Harmyk doubled and drove in three of Middletown”s runs as the Mustangs fell to 2-3 in league and 8-11 overall. His brother, Kyle, went 2-for-3 and scored twice. Eric Tomko (1-for-2, double) scored Middletown”s other two runs.
Starting pitcher Dylan Galusha took the loss, lasting 4-plus innings.
Willits improved to 4-1 in the North standings.
Softball
Clear Lake 7, Lower Lake 1
At Lower Lake, winning pitcher Rylie Gabehart and reliever Liz Sanderson combined on a one-hitter as the Clear Lake Cardinals, gearing up for their biggest week of the season, beat the Lower Lake Trojans in NCL I interlock play.
Clear Lake faces key NCL I South games on the road next week against Cloverdale (Tuesday) and St. Vincent (Friday).
Danielle McKay had Lower Lake”s lone hit.
“We hit the ball hard several times, but right at people,” Lower Lake coach Tim Sherrell said.
The Trojans (2-14) did turn in some solid work in the field, including a diving catch by first baseman Stefanie Mederos, who went into foul territory to record the out. Left fielder Katherine Dahneke and center fielder Ashley Willard also made nice catches, according to Sherrell.
“I think we”re getting respect from other teams now,” Sherrell said. “We”re still making a few too many mistakes, but we”re getting better.”
Losing pitcher Kristen Garcia went the distance for Lower Lake, striking out two and walking six. Gabehart worked the first four innings for Clear Lake.
The Cardinals improved to 15-5.
St. Helena 13, Upper Lake 5
At St. Helena, losing pitcher Jackie Lovrin and Rebecca Swaney each had three hits and Caity Falge went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs in Upper Lake”s NCL I South loss to the St. Helena Saints.
The Cougars (0-5, 0-10) scored three times in the top of the fourth on a RBI double by Swaney and a two-run double by Falge. Rebecca Grupe added a run-scoring double in the fifth.
Lovrin worked all six innings, striking out two and walking three.
“We were hitting the ball,” Upper Lake coach Kelly Coburn said.
The Cougars host South leader St. Vincent (4-1) on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
Middletown 12, Willits 4
At Middletown, Marea Bartolucci hit a two-run homer and Holly Hough went 3-for-4 with two doubles as the Middletown Mustangs moved into a tie for the NCL I North lead with a victory over the Willits Wolverines.
Middletown (4-1, 9-8) pulled even with Fort Bragg (4-1), a 2-1 loser at Kelseyville on Friday.
Bartolucci, 2-for-3 on the day, homered in her first at-bat and her two-run shot over the right-field fence in the top of the second inning put the Mustangs ahead to stay at 2-0.
“She just nailed it,” Middletown coach Lisa Rogers said.
Alicia Siri doubled twice, scored twice and drove in a run for the Mustangs.
Winning pitcher Jen Emberson struck out four and walked two.
