LAKEPORT — Clear Lake”s hitters did a good job of being patient at the plate on Tuesday and the Cardinals knocked off the visiting Kelseyville Knights 12-2 in a non-league softball game called in the bottom of the sixth inning because of the 10-run.
“She has a lot of motion and is pretty hard to time,” Clear Lake coach Gary Pickle said of Kelseyville freshman pitcher Sabrina Lyon. “We did a good job of being patient at the plate.”
Winning pitcher Liz Sanderson didn”t allow more than one runner to reach base in any inning until the top of the sixth when the Knights (2-6) scored both of their runs.
“She kept them off balance and didn”t let them bunch their hits together,” Pickle said of Sanderson, a junior. “She pitched a good game.”
“She has some downward movement on her ball and we kept hitting the top half of it,” Kelseyville coach Greg Giusti said. “We hit the ball out of the infield only three times.”
Clear Lake (8-2) scored two runs in its first at-bat and it remained 2-0 until the Cardinals erupted for five runs in the bottom of the third, three scoring on a bases-loaded triple by Kaila Sterbank. Clear Lake added two more runs in the fifth to go up 9-0.
After Kelseyville closed to 9-2 in the top of the sixth, the Cardinals put the game away with three runs in the bottom of the inning.
Rebecca Baker went 2-for-4 with a triple and a RBI and Mori Jordan went 2-for-3 with a double and a RBI for Clear Lake.
Sanderson struck out three and walked two.
“Kelseyville swings the bat real well,” Pickle said. “They put the ball in play.”
Jenn Asbury, Megan Andre, Skyler Olsen, Sarah Johnson and Ashley Mueller had Kelseyville”s hits.
“We made some mistakes at the most inopportune times,” Giusti said of the Knights” four errors in the field. “We gave them too many outs and you can”t do that against a team like that. That”s the bottom line.”
The Cardinals are home against Willits on Thursday at 4 p.m. Kelseyville hosts St. Helena on Friday at 4 p.m.
In other softball action Tuesday:
St. Vincent 11, Middletown 0
At Middletown, Kelsey Joyce came within an infield single of tossing a no-hitter in a five-inning shutout of Middletown.
Jessica Roush”s infield single with two outs in the bottom of the third inning accounted for Middletown”s lone hit against Joyce, who struck out nine and didn”t walk a batter.
St. Vincent (4-3) scored the only run Joyce would need in the top of the first inning. It was still 1-0 going to the top of the third when the Petaluma-based Mustangs added four more runs for a 5-0 lead. They had a 7-0 lead going to the fifth inning when D.J. Garcia launched an inside-the-park grand slam to left field.
Garcia went 2-for-4 and scored three times.
“They”ve got great hitters and pitchers, just another good St. Vincent team,” Middletown coach Lisa Rogers said. “She”s a hard thrower and she”s left-handed.”
Joyce was able to paint the outside corner against Middletown”s right-handed hitters all game, according to Rogers.
“Our girls just weren”t there today,” Rogers said. “They weren”t focused and I don”t know why.”
Middletown plays St. Patrick/St. Vincent of Vallejo Thursday at 4 p.m. in the opening round of the Cloverdale Tournament at Daly Field in Cloverdale.
St. Helena 8, Lower Lake 3
At St. Helena, the St. Helena Saints capitalized on a key Lower Lake error to score four times in the bottom of the sixth inning and break open a 4-3 game to that point.
“They were all unearned runs,” Lower Lake coach Tim Sherrell said of the Saints” four-run sixth.
St. Helena used “small ball” early in the game to open up a 4-1 lead, according to Sherrell.
“They bunt and ran on us successfully the first few innings,” Sherrell said.
Stefanie Mederos went 2-for-3 with a triple and a RBI for Lower Lake (4-6) and Darlena White went 2-for-4 with a double. Mirella Valencia went 1-for-3 with a RBI.
Lower Lake hosts Upper Lake on Friday.
