LAKEPORT — If the at-large committee cooperates, the Clear Lake Cardinals will get the opportunity to defend their North Coast Section Class A softball title. If not, Clear Lake head coach Gary Pickle said 17-7 will have to do.
Clear Lake closed out another winning season with a 16-1 victory in five innings over the St. Helena Saints on a red-hot Thursday afternoon at Lakeport. It was the North Central League I South finale for the Cardinals, who end up third in the standings at 5-3.
The Cardinals” collective playoff fate now rests with an at-large committee that will convene Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at Las Lomas High School in Walnut Creek.
Clear Lake is most likely competing for the eighth and final berth into the Class A playoffs, according to Pickle, who said it”s basically between the Cardinals and Salesian (13-8) of Richmond for the final playoff berth. The two teams didn”t meet this season and had only one common opponent, none other than the same St. Helena team Clear Lake beat for the second time this season in Thursday”s finale. Salesian lost 2-0 to St. Helena.
“If they follow the criteria we have a legitimate shot to be in it,” Pickle said of the at-large committee members. “But I”ve been down there when they haven”t followed the criteria, so there”s no guarantee.”
If the Cardinals fail to reach the playoffs for only the third time in Pickle”s 16 seasons as Clear Lake”s head coach, he said he can live with it.
“If you would have told me before the season we would go 17-7, I would have taken it,” Pickle said of his young squad. “With a young ballclub, I think 17-7 is pretty good. We let a couple slip away, but I think it”s been a good season.”
But with the Class A field as wide open as it has been in years, Pickle said he would love to get a shot at doing some damage.
“If we can get in, I think it”s anybody”s tournament,” said Pickle, who thinks St. Patrick/St. Vincent of Vallejo, the team the Cardinals beat to win the title last season, will be the No. 1 seed.
“I think they”ll be No. 1 and I think Fort Bragg could be No. 2,” Pickle said of the NCL I North champions, who the Cardinals went 1-1 against this season.
Given that Salesian lost to St. Helena earlier this season at the Cloverdale Tournament, Pickle said beating those very same Saints on Thursday was almost a must.
“I told them this was a playoff game for us and that”s the way we approached it,” Pickle said.
After spotting the Saints an unearned run in the top of the first inning, the rest of the game belonged to the Cardinals, who scored in every inning — three in the first, one in the second, five in the third and seven in the fourth.
“It seems like our bats are starting to heat up again,” Pickle said of the 12 hits collected by the Cardinals in only four innings.
Kaila Sterbank, the Cardinals” lead-off hitter, went 4-for-4 and Sam Espinoza went 2-for-3 with a bases-loaded triple and four RBIs overall. Tasha Herrera (2-for-3) drove in two runs and Corinne McKinney and Rylie Gabehart had doubles.
Winning pitcher Liz Sanderson allowed only two hits, struck out four and walked three.
The Cardinals pulled off a play they had practiced but not used in a game until Thursday. With St. Helena runners at first and third with no outs, the runner from first broke for second on a steal. Clear Lake catcher Julie Jackson faked a throw to second while keeping the ball in her glove. The St. Helena runner at third bit on the fake and broke for the plate, where Jackson tagged her out. Jackson then threw behind the runner at second, who had taken a wide turn around the bag. She was tagged out while trying to reach third.
