LAKEPORT — Haley Garzoli”s two-run triple ignited a four-run third inning and teammate Heather White had two doubles among her three hits Friday as the Clear Lake Cardinals beat St. Vincent 9-5 in a North Central League I South softball game at Lakeport.
“We didn”t know much about them, they have a lot of new players,” Clear Lake coach Gary Pickle said of the Mustangs. “I was glad we got them at home first because it definitely was to our advantage. They”ve got a very good team. I”m impressed with them. They”re much improved from last year.”
Clear Lake (2-0, 10-0) had a 4-2 lead going to the bottom of the third. Winning pitcher Emily Wingler drew a walk to open the inning and Savannah Dekeyser followed with a single, which brought Garzoli to the plate.
“They pulled their defense way in, they were looking for her to slap the ball,” Pickle said. “So we turned her loose.”
Garzoli punched a deep drive to left field to score Wingler and Dekeyser and make it 6-2. She then scored on a single by Kelcie Reynolds. After another single by Marsha”na Sugimoto, Morgan Psalmonds” grounder plated the final run of the inning to make it 8-2.
Wingler allowed nine hits, three of them to Vansessa Hall, who doubled and drove in two runs for the Mustangs (2-1, 7-3). Wingler struck out eight and walked none.
St. Vincent”s defense took away a couple of runs from the Cardinals as second baseman Morgan Selmi (2-for-3, two doubles) threw out two Clear Lake runners at the plate.
Led by White”s three hits, Clear Lake collected 13 in all against losing pitcher Hayley Olsen. Reynolds finished 2-for-4 with a double and a RBI, Rebecca Baker went 2-for-4 with a double, and Dekeyser went 2-for-4 with a RBI.
In other softball action Friday:
Lower Lake 12, Kelseyville 6
At Lower Lake, winning pitcher Kristen Garcia went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs to lead the Lower Lake Trojans to a NCL I North victory over the Kelseyville Knights.
Garcia allowed eight hits, struck out one and walked four as the Trojans squared their league record at 1-1. They are 3-6 overall.
Losing pitcher Sabrina Lyon also went the distance, striking out four and walking three as the Knights fell to 0-2 and 1-9.
“We started hitting the ball better,” Lower Lake coach Tim Sherrell said. “We made a couple of errors to get them back in the game, but we hung on.”
Lower Lake went ahead to stay with a four-run bottom of the first. Kelseyville got two of those runs back in the top of the second, but the Trojans rallied for four more runs in the bottom of the inning to go up 8-2.
Kelseyville narrowed that deficit to 8-5 in the top of the fourth but couldn”t get any closer.
Along with Garcia, who had a two-run double in the top of the sixth for Lower Lake”s final two runs, Selena Ledesma and Isabelle Azbill had two hits apiece for the Trojans. Azbill also had two RBIs while Shadae White connected for a two-run single in the fifth to give her team a 10-5 lead.
Center fielder Katelyn Spooner turned a double play for the Trojans in the sixth, catching a line drive and throwing on to first base to double up a Kelseyville runner.
“It feels really good,” Sherrell said of the Trojans winning their first league game. “We need to build some confidence and this should help the process.”
Baseball
Clear Lake 6, St. Vincent 2
At Petaluma, sophomore left-hander Joey Blair scattered seven hits, struck out four and walked only one as the Clear Lake Cardinals handed the St. Vincent Mustangs only their second loss in 15 games this season.
The NCL I South win levels Clear Lake”s league record at 1-1 and its overall mark at 5-5. The Mustangs are 2-1 in league.
“He pitched a great game,” Clear Lake assistant coach Gary Mil-haupt said of Blair. “He got ahead of every batter and had great control.”
Blair, making only his second start of the season and his first since Feb. 26, also benefited from catcher Tyler Beets” guidance behind the plate.
“Beets called a great game,” Milhaupt said.
Ahead 1-0 after one inning, the Cardinals provided Blair with all the support he would need with a three-run top of the second. Stone Phillips led off with a single, Kyle Swartz singled and Chad Elliston”s RBI single made it 2-0. Matt Richards followed with a two-run double to make it 4-0.
St. Vincent scored its only two runs in the bottom of the inning. Clear Lake added insurance runs in the fourth and seventh.
Swartz went 4-for-4 to lead Clear Lake”s 12-hit attack. Beets went 2-for-4 with a RBI and Tanner Mansell went 2-for-4 with a double and a RBI.
Clear Lake hosts Healdsburg today in a non-league game at 1 p.m. The Cardinals are home again on Monday to play St. Helena and Tuesday to take on Upper Lake.
JV baseball
Lower Lake 6, Kelseyville 0
At Clearlake, Zeff Roofner struck out 14 and allowed only three hits as the Lower Lake JVs beat Kelseyville in NCL I North action.
Roofner, using an assortment of fastballs, curves and changeups, shut down the Kelseyville offense, according to Lower Lake coach Mike Huffman.
“He really had the curve working,” Huffman said.
John Duncan went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs to spark Lower Lake”s offense. Thaddeus Wetmore went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
Lower Lake is 1-2 in league and 4-6 overall.
