ST. HELENA — The St. Helena Saints scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings and went on to beat the Kelseyville Knights 6-5 in a marathon North Central League I interlock softball game on Saturday in St. Helena.
The 11-inning game took three hours and 45 minutes to complete and left both teams pretty much exhausted, according to Kelseyville coach Greg Giusti, who used all 14 players, including three pitchers.
“It was warm over there and everybody was beat,” Giusti said. “We did the best we could but we didn”t do it long enough.”
St. Helena loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 11th and scored the winning run on a bases-loaded walk issued by Jennifer Green, who worked the final 1 2/3 innings.
Kelseyville scored three times in the top of the third for a 3-0 lead. St. Helena pushed in front 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth only to watch the Knights answer with two runs in the top of the seventh for a 5-4 lead. Sarah Johnson (4-for-5, double) singled home the first run of the inning to knot the score at 4 and Sabrina Lyon”s RBI single gave the Knights a short-lived 5-4 advantage.
Winning pitcher Diane Meyer, who went the distance for the Saints, scored in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at 5. Meyer struck out five and walked five while allowing 18 hits.
“We had our chances,” Giusti said.
Adriana Vonwal went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs for the Knights (3-8) and Ashley Mueller and Jillian Allen added two hits apiece. Allen pitched the first four innings before being relieved by Lyon, who worked the next five.
Kelseyville travels to Middletown today in NCL I North action, weather permitting. The Knights and Fort Bragg are currently atop the North standings at 2-0.
