LAKEPORT — One mighty swing of the bat turned things around in a big way on a balmy Friday afternoon in Lakeport.
Heather White”s two-out grand slam, a high drive to left field that was gone the moment the ball left the bat, snapped a 2-2 tie and propelled the Clear Lake Cardinals to a 12-2 victory over the Kelseyville Knights. The non-league softball game was called after five innings because of the 10-run rule.
Clear Lake (5-0) scored the game”s final 12 runs after a slow start. Kelseyville (0-2) grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning on a two-out RBI single by Victoria Zendejas and a run-scoring fielding error.
The Cardinals answered right back in the bottom of the inning against losing pitcher Sabrina Lyon. Winning pitcher Emily Wingler led off with a crisp single to center field and Savannah Dekeyser and Haley Garzoli followed with infield singles to load the bases for Kelcie Reynolds, who walked to force in a run. Marsha”na Sugimoto then hit a bullet to Kelseyville third baseman Kyra Rudnick. She gloved the hard line drive for the out and threw on to second base to double off Garzoli. Meanwhile Dekeyser, who was well off the bag at third, had to scramble back and barely beat the throw to avoid what would have been a triple play.
Morgan Psalmonds promptly tied the game at 2 with a single to center field. A walk to Rebecca Baker reloaded the bases for White, who worked the count to 2-2 before driving a Lyon pitch deep to left for the grand slam, her second home run of the season and her seventh extra-base hit overall.
“She”s seeing the ball really good right now,” Clear Lake coach Gary Pickle said of White, his junior second baseman. “That was really hit well.”
White went 4-for-4 with three doubles, one of which just missed being a home run, in a 14-1 win on Tuesday in Fort Bragg.
“She”s got a combination of power and speed that makes her a good No. 3 hitter,” Pickle said.
Clear Lake bumped its lead to 10-2 in the fourth inning on a run-scoring wild pitch, RBI grounders by Wingler and Garzoli, and a RBI single by Reynolds.
The Cardinals made it 12-2 in the fifth on a run-scoring wild pitch and a two-out Garzoli RBI single that ended the game.
Other than a rough stretch in the top of the second when the Knights collected their only two hits of the game, Wingler”s only other anxious moment came in the top of the fourth when the Knights put runners at first and second, the result of Clear Lake”s third error of the game and a walk. She fell behind in the count 2-0 to Zendejas, at which point Pickle called a timeout to talk to his pitcher, who was visibly frustrated.
When play resumed, Wingler came back with three straight strikes to strike out Zendejas, then she struck out Rudnick to end the inning. She finished the game with four strikeouts and two walks.
“She had spells where found her groove,” Pickle said, “but she also had spells where she couldn”t find her rhythm.”
Lyon worked the first three innings for Kelseyville before giving way to Jennifer Green. Lyon walked six and didn”t have a strikeout. In fact, the Cardinals didn”t strike out once, which meant the Kelseyville defense had a busy ?and productive ? day. The Knights didn”t commit an error and turned double plays in each of the first two innings.
Besides Zendejas” RBI single, Kelseyville”s only other hit was Lyon”s infield single leading off the top of the second.
On spotting the Knights a 2-0 lead in the top of the second, Pickle said the Cardinals were not in the mental frame of mind he wanted when the game began.
“We were focusing in the wrong direction,” Pickle said. “We were worrying about things we didn”t need to worry about. You”ve got to show up to games with the right mindset.”
