UKIAH — Combine 15 strikeouts with a game-winning two-run homer and you have a very, very good day for Ukiah High School pitcher Hillary Ruddick on Thursday during a non-league softball game against the Clear Lake Cardinals at Ukiah.
You also have a 3-2 victory for the host Wildcats, who erased a 2-1 deficit with one out in the bottom of the seventh when Ruddick, batting second in Ukiah”s order, cranked an Emily Wingler pitch over the fence in straightaway center field.
“It was gone,” Clear Lake coach Gary Pickle said. “It was 4 to 5 feet out.”
Clear Lake (5-2) scored single runs in the second and third innings to go up 2-0. Ukiah cut that lead in half with a RBI grounder in the bottom of the fifth. It remained 2-1 until the seventh.
Working her way on base in front of Ruddick”s game-winning blast was the No. 9 hitter in the Ukiah lineup, who reached on an error before being erased on a force play at second base. Ruddick followed with her home run.
“It was early in the count, it may have been the first pitch,” Pickle said.
Ruddick walked only one batter in going the distance against the Cardinals, who had only two hits — both by center fielder Rebecca Baker (2-for-3).
“It”s probably the best pitcher we”ll face all season,” Pickle said of the veteran Ruddick, a senior.
Winlger, just a freshman, also went the distance, scattering five hits, striking out two and walking two. She allowed only one earned run.
“She threw a lot of groundballs and that”s what we want her to do,” Pickle said of Wingler. “That”s the kind of pitcher she is. She showed a lot out there today.”
Clear Lake committed three errors in the game.
“Those mistakes allowed them to get to the top of their lineup (in the seventh),” Pickle said. “Our youth got to us today a little bit. They don”t realize they can be a really good team yet.”
Besides having Clear Lake”s only two hits, Baker, the Cardinals” center fielder, threw out a runner who was trying to score from second base on a single in the bottom of the second inning.
“She made a nice throw and Mori (Jordan) blocked the plate and tagged her out,” Pickle said.
Clear Lake returns home Saturday to play Esparto in a non-league doubleheader that begins at noon.
