UKIAH — After taking care of business in the semifinals against host Ukiah, the Clear Lake Cardinals found out why the Montgomery Vikings of Santa Rosa are the class of the Redwood Empire softball ranks on Saturday in the championship game of the Ukiah Tournament.
Montgomery beat Clear Lake 17-0 in a game called after five innings because of the 10-run rule. The Vikings are now 15-0 with nine shutouts and they”ve outscored the competition 118-8 this season.
Clear Lake freshman Emily Wingler pitched 3 1/3 innings and did a lot better than her line — 10 runs on nine hits — reflects, according to Clear Lake coach Gary Pickle.
“I thought she was pitching pretty well,” Pickle said. “She got to two strikes on a lot of their batters, but they would hit the ball with two strikes.”
The Vikings didn”t strike out once while collecting 17 hits. The middle and bottom of their batting order inflicted the most damage on the Cardinals, including a grand slam by the No. 8 hitter.
“They are the class of the Empire,” Pickle said. “They were focused, they didn”t give away at-bats.”
Clear Lake left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth.
Mori Jordan, Rebecca Baker and Vanessa Tullos had Clear Lake”s only hits.
Earlier in the day against Ukiah, the Cardinals avenged a 3-2 loss earlier this season to the Wildcats with a 4-2 victory in the tournament semifinals.
Liz Sanderson worked all seven innings, striking out six and walking one.
“She made big pitches and we made some nice plays behind her,” Pickle said. “She gave up nine hits but they were bunched. It”s the best I”ve seen her pitch all year.”
After losing to Ukiah 3-2 on March 26 in Ukiah, a game in which the Cardinals took a 2-1 lead into the seventh inning, Pickle said his players were motivated to beat the Wildcats.
“The girls really wanted that game,” Pickle said. “They played hard, they played pretty darn good defense.”
Taking advantage of a Ukiah team without its starting catcher, the Cardinals made the most of passed balls and stolen bases to move up on the basepaths.
“Our speed played into their weakness (at catcher),” Pickle said.
Hannah Hoffeditz went 2-for-3 and scored two of Clear Lake”s runs. Baker and Katie Reynolds each went 1-for-3 with a run scored.
Sanderson, Jordan and Reynolds were named to the All-Tournament team.
Clear Lake returns to action today in a key North Central League I South game against St. Vincent, the defending South champion. First pitch is 4 p.m. in Petaluma.
“They”re the league champions until someone changes that,” Pickle said.
Clear Lake lost twice to St. Vincent last year.
