LAKEPORT — The Clear Lake Cardinals expected to do better than a No. 6 seed in the North Coast Section Division IV softball playoffs, but coach Gary Pickle said it all worked out in the end for his 18-4 club.
Clear Lake joins Middletown”s softball team and the Kelseyville High School baseball team as Lake County”s three representatives in the Division IV playoffs, which open Wednesday with first-round games.
Clear Lake, the North Central League I South co-champion, received a first-round bye because only 10 teams qualified for the 12-team Division IV softball field. The Cardinals are home Saturday to play No. 3 seed Head-Royce (16-6) of Walnut Creek at 5 p.m. in a quarterfinal-round contest. Clear Lake and Head-Royce are not playoff strangers, having met in the 2004 and 2005 semifinals.
Middletown (12-9), the No. 10 seed, is home Wednesday to play No. 7 Cloverdale (15-8) at 5 p.m. Even though the Mustangs are a lower seed than the Eagles, they are hosting the game because of their status as NCL I North champions. Cloverdale finished third in the NCL I South behind co-champions Clear Lake and St. Vincent.
Cloverdale and Middletown met earlier this season in Middletown, Cloverdale winning 15-1 on April 23. The Eagles also beat the Mustangs twice last season, winning 8-2 and 11-6.
Clear Lake and Head-Royce didn”t cross paths during the 2009 regular season but did meet in the semifinals — then Class A — in 2004 and 2005. Head-Royce beat the Cardinals both times, 3-2 in 2005 and 11-5 in 2004, at Walnut Creek. Head-Royce also won 6-0 in a regular-season game at Walnut Creek in 2004. This is the first time they”ve met in a playoff game at Lakeport.
“With the bye, it”s almost like we were the No. 3 seed,” Pickle said of the Cardinals hosting a quarterfinal-round game because of their status as league champions.
Pickle thought the Cardinals had a chance to earn a top-four seed considering their strength of schedule, including a win over Maria Carrillo of Santa Rosa, a team that beat No. 4 seed Healdsburg during the regular season.
“I guess they don”t think much of the teams up this way,” Pickle said.
Head-Royce, the 2004 Class A champion, finished second in the Bay Counties League East.
Middletown coach Lisa Rogers said she”s thrilled to get another shot at the Eagles, who the Mustangs lost to handily just two days after outfielder Brianna Doyle was hospitalized after colliding with teammate Lindsey Silva in an April 21 home game against Fort Bragg.
“You know what, Margaret has not seen the team that we are now,” Rogers said of longtime Cloverdale coach Margaret Fitzgerald.
“We are a solid team right now, we weren”t then,” Rogers added. “We are there now. I”m looking forward to playing them.”
If the Mustangs win, they”ll host No. 2 seed Moreau Catholic (14-5) of Hayward on Saturday in the quarterfinals.
Defending section champion St. Patrick/St. Vincent (22-2) of Vallejo is the No. 1 seed, followed by No. 2 Moreau Catholic (14-5) of Hayward, No. 3 Berean Christian and No. 4 Healdsburg. St. Patrick/St. Vincent has reached the sectional finals three years running, winning in 2006, losing to Clear Lake in 2007, and winning last season.
No. 5 seed Justin-Siena also received a first-round bye and will play Healdsburg Saturday in the quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. in Healdsburg.
Baseball
No. 9 seed Kelseyville (16-9), the NCL I North co-champion, will try to extend its season by another game when staff ace Mike Duman takes to the mound Wednesday at 5 p.m. to play No. 8 El Molino (12-11), the fifth-place team in the Sonoma County League this season.
“I think we match up pretty good,” Kelseyville coach Lou Poloni said. “I”ve talked to other coaches and it sounds like it”s a team we can compete with.”
The winner draws No. 1 seed Marin Catholic (19-5) in the quarterfinals on either Friday or Saturday.
“For this group of seniors, it”s a big game,” Poloni said. “They haven”t won anything since Crescent City (a junior high basketball tournament) with (coach) John Berry. They haven”t won a pennant in any other sport, so they”re looking forward to it.”
Other top seeds besides Marin Catholic are No. 2 Justin-Siena (17-9) of Napa, No. 3 St. Mary”s (18-6) of Berkeley, and No. 4 Salesian (17-6) of Richmond.
