LAKEPORT — Liz Sanderson and Emily Wingler combined on a one-hitter and both teams used every player on their roster Thursday as the Clear Lake Cardinals blanked the Lower Lake Trojans 9-0 in non-league softball action at Clear Lake High School.
The season opener for both teams came on a brisk winter afternoon in Lakeport. Despite the heavy rains of the past week, the Cardinals” home field was in remarkably good shape and there was no standing water on either the dirt infield or in the outfield.
Clear Lake returns eight of nine starters from a team that went 20-5 last season and lost 2-1 to St. Patrick/St. Vincent in the North Coast Section championship game. But even with a veteran club, the Cardinals have a different look.
“We have eight starters back but it”s different,” Pickle said. “Some of their positions have changed. I”m still trying to figure some things out. There are some spots that haven”t been won outright.”
Along with experience, the Cardinals are loaded with speed, too, both in their starting lineup and on the bench thanks to the addition of several freshmen.
“I have lots of options, lots of speed on the bench,” Pickle said.
The Cardinals, nine months removed from their last game, scored twice in the bottom of the first inning and added five runs in the second for a 7-0 lead. That was more than enough support for Sanderson, who was nearly perfect during a four-inning stint that included five strikeouts.
Clear Lake emptied its bench after a five-run second. Lower Lake did the same a couple of innings later.
“I was happy,” Pickle said of the Cardinals” initial effort of 2010. “I was happy with both teams, I thought both teams played pretty well.”
“I was pleased,” Lower Lake coach Tim Sherrell said. “We got a lot of girls experience. Some went from playing Little League to playing Clear Lake, which is quite a jump,” Sherrell added of his freshmen.
“We need a lot of work, but we”re already more of a team this year than last year,” Sherrell added. “There”s a lot of positive energy.”
The Clear Lake and Lower Lake defenses were pretty much on top of things and committed one error apiece. That”s not to say both teams were in midseason form ? that clearly wasn”t the case and it was most evident at the plate where players from both teams had some shaky at-bats.
“The pitchers are ahead of the hitters,” Sherrell said. “We need a lot of work.”
Clear Lake grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Heather White tripled down the left-field line and scored on a passed ball. Rebecca Baker followed with a bloop single to deep shortstop, stole second and moved to third on a passed ball before trotting home on Mari Jordan”s triple to the right-center field gap.
After Corinne McKinney walked and advanced to second on Vanessa Tullos” comebacker, Lower Lake starting pitcher Kristen Garcia did a nice job of working out of the jam by getting Katie Reynolds on a popup to the mound and Emily Wingler on a grounder to shortstop.
Clear Lake mounted a two-out rally in the second. Savannah DeKeyser was hit by a pitch to open the inning and stole second, but she was still there with two outs. A wild pitch moved DeKeyser to third and she couldn”t advance on Baker”s infield single, a slow chopper in front of the mound. Garcia fielded the ball but had no play on the speedy Baker.
Jordan drew a walk before a passed ball brought DeKeyser home with the first run of the inning. McKinney followed with a RBI single and Tullos” infield single loaded the bases for Reynolds, who promptly cleared them with a ringing double to straightaway center field.
Lower Lake went without a hit until Mirella Valencia beat out an infield single with one out in the top of the sixth, a grounder that ricocheted off Wingler”s glove before second baseman Jayci Fegruson could make a play on the ball.
Wingler struck out eight in three innings and walked two.
The Trojans never advanced a runner past second base.
White, Baker and Rylie Gabehart had two hits apiece for the Cardinals, who had 10 in all against Garcia and freshman reliever Amanda Graf. Graf was making her high school debut and she allowed two unearned runs and one hit, struck out three and walked four.
Sanderson reached on an error in the bottom of the sixth that allowed Gabehart and Coree Alexander to score the final two runs of the game.
