PETALUMA — Kelsey Joyce stopped the Clear Lake Cardinals on just four hits and struck out seven as the St. Vincent Mustangs moved into position to clinch the North Central League I South softball title with a 5-0 win on Friday in Petaluma.
Dj Garcia set the tone early for the Mustangs (7-1), smacking a two-out solo home run to left field in the bottom of the first inning.
“She reached out and hooked it,” Clear Lake coach Gary Pickle said. “It was just a high flyball but it had enough carry on it to get out.”
St. Vincent parlayed two bloop singles, a double and a Clear Lake error into four runs in the bottom of the third.
Rylie Gabehart went 2-for-3 for the Cardinals and Kaila Sterbank and Julie Jackson had the only other hits allowed by Joyce, who walked only one and benefited from an error-free performance by her defense.
“We didn”t hit a loud ball all day,” Pickle said.
The loss leaves Clear Lake at 3-3 in the league standings and 15-7 overall. The highest the Cardinals can hope to finish in the South standings is third behind St. Vincent and Cloverdale, two teams they went a combined 1-3 against this season. Nevertheless, Pickle said he will apply for an at-large berth into the North Coast Section Class A playoffs a week from Sunday.
“The third-place team from our league didn”t make it last year,” said Pickle, who has missed the playoffs only twice since taking over the Clear Lake program in 1993. “But we have some quality wins and our losses have been to quality opponents. I”m not opposed to going and groveling (before the at-large panel).”
Pickle sees the Class A playoffs as being “wide open” this season.
Clear Lake completes a week in which lost 3-1 to Cloverdale on Tuesday in Cloverdale and 5-0 to St. Vincent.
“Basically our bats have gone cold,” Pickle said. “We”ve hit a slump at the wrong time. Our pitching and defense have improved, but we”re not hitting the ball.”
One encouraging sign, according to Pickle, was the manner in which the Cardinals responded to the league loss.
“There were a lot of tears flowing,” Pickle said. “That tells me they wanted this one. That”s the first time I”ve seen that (after a loss) this season.”
Clear Lake started the St. Vincent game without center fielder Mori Jordan in the outfield. She was benched until the fourth inning for team disciplinary reasons. The Cardinals also will have to do without first baseman Candy Diener as she is academically ineligible for the remainder of the season.
In other action Friday:
Upper Lake 5, Willits 3
At Upper Lake, the Upper Lake Cougars won their first game of the season by beating the Willits Wolverines in NCL I interlock action.
“They played awesome,” Upper Lake coach Kelly Coburn said of the Cougars, who improved to 1-12 with two games remaining. “They out-hit us, but we out-defensed them.”
The Cougars also received a solid outing from winning pitcher Jackie Lovrin, who went the distance and walked only two.
Upper Lake snapped a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the fifth when Lovrin helped her own cause with a two-run single. She knocked in three of the Cougars” runs.
Taryn Re”s RBI single in the sixth made it a 5-2 game.
Caity Falge doubled and scored in the bottom of the fourth to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead, but Willits came back to tie it in the top of the fifth.
The defensive play of the game occurred in the top of the fifth when Re, the Cougars” left-fielder, made a running catch and then doubled off a Willits runner who had broken from first base on the play, thinking the ball would land safely in the outfield.
“They finally came together and played like a team,” said Coburn, who will treat her team to pizza on Monday.
Kelseyville 11, Lower Lake 1
At Lower Lake, Kelsey-ville turned a close game into a blowout with an eight-run sixth inning and beat the Lower Lake Trojans in NCL I North action.
Lower Lake (1-5, 2-16) led 1-0 behind pitcher Kristen Garcia until Kelseyville (5-2, 12-11) moved ahead to stay with a two-run fourth inning. The Knights picked up another run in the fifth and then broke the game wide open in the sixth.
“We played them pretty tough for five innings,” Lower Lake coach Tim Sherrell said. “We just made too many errors in the top of the sixth.”
Katie Davis went 3-for-4 with a triple and a RBI to lead the Knights and winning pitcher Casey Bowlin went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. She went the distance in the six-inning game, striking out two and walking two.
“We”re playing well at the right time,” Kelseyville coach Greg Giusti said.
Stefanie Mederos went 3-for-3 for Lower Lake.
The Trojans turned a 1-3-2 (pitcher-to-first-to-catcher) double play in the top of the fourth when Garcia fielded a comebacker, looked a Kelseyville runner back to third and threw on to first for the out. When the runner at third broke for the plate, first baseman Mederos threw home and catcher Darlena White applied the tag.
“It kept them from having a bigger inning,” Sherrell said.
Fort Bragg 8, Middletown 2
At Fort Bragg, the Fort Bragg Timberwolves clinched a tie for the NCL I North title by beating the Middletown Mustangs in NCL I North action.
Middletown (4-2, 9-10) could have created a virtual three-way tie for first with a victory. Fort Bragg improved to 6-1 in the North Standings and need only beat Willits (0-6) to clinch the title outright.
Middletown faces another key league game on Tuesday when it travels to Kelseyville to play the Knights (5-2). The winner will clinch second place.
