LAKEPORT — The Clear Lake softball team starts with a clean slate today when it takes on the Fort Bragg Timberwolves at 4 p.m. in the opening round of the North Coast Section Class A playoffs.
The Cardinals (17-7) earned the second-to-last available at-large berth and the No. 7 seed in the eight-team field on Sunday during a meeting in Walnut Creek. Ten teams showed up for the meeting, but one (Marin Academy of San Rafael) decided not to apply. Kelseyville (11-12) did apply but was unsuccessful.
Of the eight-team field, three league champions earned automatic berths ? Fort Bragg (18-3) of the North Central League I North, St. Vincent (14-8) of the NCL I South, and Berean Christian (15-8) of the Bay Counties League East. The remainder of the field consists of five at-large teams. They are Clear Lake, St. Patrick/St. Vincent (21-3) of the Bayshore Athletic League, Salesian (14-8) of the BSAL, Justin-Siena (15-8) of the Marin County Athletic League and Cloverdale (17-6) of the NCL I South, which is the only league with three teams in the Class A field.
St. Patrick/St. Vincent of Vallejo, the team Clear Lake beat in last year”s Class A championship game is the No. 1 seed and will host No. 8 Salesian today. Other first-round games today have No. 4 St. Vincent at No. 5 Berean Christian and No. 6 Cloverdale at No. 3 Justin-Siena. All games begin at 4 p.m.
Winners advance to the semifinal round Thursday. The St. Patrick/St. Vincent-Salesian winner will play the St. Vincent-Berean Christian winner in one semifinal, and the Clear Lake-Fort Bragg and Cloverdale-Justin-Siena winners will meet in the other semifinal.
If Clear Lake defeats Fort Bragg, the Cardinals would travel to either Cloverdale or to Napa on Thursday.
Semifinal winners meet Saturday in the championship game.
Clear Lake and Fort Bragg met twice during the regular season. Clear Lake beat the Timberwolves 9-0 on March 20 in Lakeport and lost to the Timberwolves 7-6 on March 29 at the Ukiah Tournament.
This is the fifth straight year and the 14th time in 16 seasons that the Cardinals have qualified for the Class A playoffs under the direction of head coach Gary Pickle.
Clear Lake finished third in the NCL I South this season with a 5-3 record.
While the Cardinals were successful in their bid to reach the postseason this year, Clear Lake High School”s varsity baseball team was not. The eight-team Class A baseball tournament features No. 1 Cloverdale (18-6), No. 2 St. Vincent (21-3), No. 3 Berean Christian (18-8), No. 4 Salesian (14-10), No. 5 Fort Bragg (17-6), No. 6 Head-Royce (19-8), No. 7 Justin-Siena (13-12) and No. 8 Lick Wilmerding (20-7).
