ESPARTO — The Clear Lake Cardinals couldn”t empty their bench fast enough while sweeping Esparto in a non-league softball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon in Esparto. The Cardinals won both games 12-2.
“You want to make sure everybody gets to play quite a bit because we”re getting close to that point of the season where we won”t be substituting a lot,” Clear Lake coach Gary Pickle said. “We did improve at some things, but we also need some work in other areas.”
The two blowouts also afforded the Cardinals a chance to work on some things they haven”t spent much time on in practice, according to Pickle.
“We worked on going first to third,” Pickle said. “We”re reading the ball off the bat a lot better.”
Liz Sanderson work-ed all six innings in game one to notch the victory. She allowed five hits. Emily Wingler pitched a complete-game two hitter in game two.
In the opener, Hea-ther White went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Haley Garzoli went 2-for-3 with a RBI. The Cardinals scored in all six of their at-bats, including four-run second and fifth innings.
In game two, Clear Lake tallied three runs in the first, second, third and fourth innings. Coree Alexander smacked a two-run homer in the top of the third and Mari Jordan (2-for-2) added a solo shot leading off the fourth.
Also for the Cardinals, White went 2-for-4 and Hannah Hoffeditz went 2-for-3.
In other softball action Saturday:
College Prep 1, Lower Lake 0
Lower Lake 15, University 2
At Calistoga, the Lower Lake Trojans dropped a pitcher”s duel in the first round of the Calistoga Tournament before bouncing back with a one-sided victory in the third-place game.
College Prep went on to beat Calistoga 14-3 in the championship game.
“A good team, a good softball game,” Lower Lake coach Tim Sherrell said of the loss to College Prep. “It looks like that was the championship game of the tournament.”
Isabell Azbill had the Trojans” lone hit against College Prep, a two-out single in the seventh. The next Lower Lake batter reached on an error but the game then ended on a strikeout.
Losing pitcher Kristen Garcia tossed a four-hitter, struck out seven and didn”t walk a batter.
College Prep scored the game”s lone run in the bottom of the first.
Against University in the third-place game, Garcia tossed a two-hitter and Christine Powers went 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Mirella Valencia added two hits and three RBIs and Azbill went 2-for-2 with a double and a RBI.
The Trojans are 2-4.
Upper Lake 10, Fort Bragg 3
Hoopa 10, Upper Lake 6
At Willits, the Upper Lake Cougars beat Fort Bragg in a consolation-round game before falling to Hoopa later in the day.
Jessica Swaney connected for two-run homers in both games for Upper Lake (4-2). She was 4-for-6 on the day. Taryn Re added two hits against Fort Bragg.
Swaney also pitched all four innings against Fort Bragg to earn the victory.
“I”m pretty happy with how we played on Saturday,” Upper Lake coach Kelly Coburn said. “Jessica Swaney was ecstatic to say the least.”
