WILLITS — There”s a race brewing in the North Central League I varsity baseball ranks.
Kyle Brown combined with reliever Connor Chick on a two-hitter and Brown also had three hits and drove in a run Tuesday afternoon as the Middletown Mustangs knocked off the Willits Wolverines at Willits.
Combined with Kelseyville”s 5-0 victory over the Fort Bragg Timberwolves on Tuesday in Kelseyville, the North standings are tightly packed with plenty of head-to-head meetings remaining. In fact, the Mustangs have yet to face either Kelseyville (3-0) or Fort Bragg (2-1). They play both teams twice.
“My pitchers really did a good job of controlling the count, they were ahead of the batters all day,” Middletown coach Mitch Tucker said.
Brown worked 4 1/3 innings for the victory, allowing one run on one hit, striking out six and walking four. Chick earned the save with 2 2/3 innings of one-hit relief. He struck out six and walked none.
It was a 1-1 game until the top of the fifth when RBI singles by Saul Preciado and Brown put the Mustangs ahead to stay.
“It was a lot closer than we wanted it to be,” Tucker said of the first four innings.
Middletown added three more runs in the sixth on a throwing error, a RBI grounder by Bryan Holt, and a RBI single by Chick.
Chick, Holt, Preciado and Luke Humphrey had two hits apiece for the Mustangs, now 10-6 overall.
Holt”s play at shortstop was another plus, according to Tucker.
“He threw out four runners at first base in the first two innings,” Tucker said.
St. Helena 10, Upper Lake 0
At St. Helena, Richard Hoppe tossed a five-inning no-hitter as the St. Helena Saints beat the Upper Lake Cougars to improve to 4-0 in the NCL I South standings.
The Saints scored four times in the bottom of the fifth to bring an early conclusion to the contest. During the game-ending rally, St. Helena”s Michael Crean was ejected for striking Upper Lake catcher Bruce Tucker with his forearm as he crossed home plate.
“He caught him with a forearm shiver,” Upper Lake coach Jim Green said.
According to Green, the home plate umpire immediately ejected Crean. St. Helena”s coach argued the call and also was ejected.
Upper Lake didn”t commit an error in the game and struck out only once against Hoppe.
“I”m proud of the way they played defense and I”m proud of them for putting the ball into play,” Green said.
“We played good defense, but they (Saints) just hit the ball,” Green added of the Saints” 10 hits.
Upper Lake is 0-5 in league and 2-11 overall.
Clear Lake 3, Lower Lake 2
At Lower Lake, Steven Edwards and Kyle Swartz hit RBI singles in the top of the seventh inning to snap a 1-1 tie and lift the Clear Lake Cardinals to a nail-biting non-league win over the Lower Lake Trojans.
Clear Lake (7-7) held on in the bottom of the seventh as the Trojans (3-10) scored a run against winning pitcher Joey Blair, who was working his second inning in relief of starter Chad Elliston.
Edwards went 3-for-4 with two RBIs to lead the Cardinals. He also singled home a run in the top of the third to give Clear Lake a 1-0 lead. Lower Lake tied it with a run in the bottom of the fourth.
Elliston moved to third base after leaving the mound and made the defensive play of the game in the bottom of the sixth with the score tied at 1. Lower Lake had runners at second and third with no outs when Tony Fonseca hit a hard grounder earmarked for left field. Elliston made a diving stop to his left, looked the runner back at third and threw on to first base to retire Fonseca. Blair struck out the next batter before getting the final out of the inning.
“That was the key play of the game,” Clear Lake coach Gary Milhaupt said. “He caught the ball on his belly.”
Swartz, filling in for injured starter Tyler Beets at catcher, turned in a strong effort behind the plate in addition to singling home what proved to be the game-winning run.
“He did just fine,” Milhaupt said.
Kyle Buckingham went 2-for-4 with a RBI for Lower Lake.
Kevin O”Quinn went the distance for Lower Lake, striking out four and walking one.
Softball
Willits 10, Middletown 0
At Willits, Willits pitcher Melissa Crews blanked the Middletown Mustangs on no hits in a six-inning NCL I North softball game. Crews also went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and RBI as the Wolverines improved to 2-1 in the league standings.
“Everything we hit was right at somebody,” Middletown coach Bob Cummesky said. “It was frustrating.”
Crews struck out only one batter and walked seven. Middletown loaded the bases twice but couldn”t score.
Victoria Alessandra was the losing pitcher. She struck out one and walking eight in five-plus innings.
Fort Bragg 4, Kelseyville 1
At Kelseyville, Fort Bragg”s Cassidy Lowe outdueled Kelseyville”s Sabrina Lyon in NCL I North action.
Lowe scattered four hits, struck out four and walked two as Fort Bragg improved to 3-0 in the league standings. Lyon allowed just two hits, struck out seven and walked two as the Knights fell to 0-4 in league and 1-9 overall.
“She was pitching very well,” Kelseyville coach Taryn O”Donnell said of Lyon. “That could be the best game she”s had so far.”
Jennifer Green went 2-for-2 for Kelseyville but had to leave the game in the bottom of the fourth after sustaining a knee injury while sliding into second base.
“I don”t know if she got cleated or what. I”m not sure,” O”Donnell said.
Savannah Meyer singled home the Knights” run in the bottom of the seventh.
Defensive gems for Kelseyville included catches by Meyer in right field, Victoria Zendejas in left field and Green at third base.
St. Helena 11, Upper Lake 1
At St. Helena, the St. Helena Saints won their first NCL I South game at the expense of the Upper Lake Cougars (0-4).
The game was called in the fifth inning because of the 10-run rule.
Vanessa Hanson went 1-for-2 with a triple and a RBI for the Cougars, now 2-10 overall.
“She had a chance for a (inside-the-park) home run on her triple,” Upper Lake coach Kelly Coburn said of Hanson”s triple.
Tennis
Kelseyville 3, Middletown 2
At Middletown, the Kelseyville Knights” first doubles team of Max Lehman and Kyle Schmidt won the deciding match, beating Middletown”s Nika Gibbs and Jeremy Turner 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, in Coastal Mountain Con-ference tennis action.
Kelseyville (4-3) has won four straight since opening the season 0-3.
“The Kelseyville kids came on,” Middletown coach Vic Wroobel said of Lehman and Schmidt, who won the final three games to take the second set and the hard-fought doubles match. “Those kids put on the pressure. That match took quite awhile to finish.”
Kelseyville”s other two wins came in first singles, where Moses Kuzu defeated Jerry Espinosa 6-0, 6-0, and in second singles, where Nils Mostin beat Cody Astley 7-5, 7-5.
Middletown picked up victories in third singles, where Maddie Kucer defeated Daniel Lucas 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), and in second doubles, where Oscar Rincon and Nolan Tkachenko beat Ashley Taylor and Ryan Schmidt 6-3, 6-2.
Middletown, now 5-2, closes out the regular season at home Friday against St. Helena. Kelseyville travels to St. Helena on Thursday.
St. Helena 5, Clear Lake 0
At St. Helena, the St. Helena Saints blanked the Clear Lake Cardinals, winning all five matches in the minimum two sets.
Teddy Ulin defeated Andreina Guedez 6-4, 7-5 in first singles, Kyle Jimenez beat Gabriela Reyes 6-0, 6-2 in second singles, and Alec Fetzer topped Raul Rendon 6-1, 6-3 in third singles.
In doubles action, Callie Flood and Sarah Gamble beat Darcy McCarrick and Clhoe Rojas 6-1, 6-2 in first doubles, and David Martinez and Cole Ballentine defeated Kenny Henninger and Tamara Rojas 6-1, 6-4 in second doubles.
Clear Lake, now 5-4 on the season, hosts St. Helena today in its final conference match.
