UKIAH — You could see this one coming.
Emotionally spent after a comeback for the ages on Thursday against Cloverdale, the Clear Lake Cardinals dropped a 9-0 decision to Sonoma High School on Friday afternoon in the opening of the Ukiah Tournament at Ukiah High School.
Clear Lake (12-1) lost its first game of the season less than 24 hours after rallying from a 15-0 deficit to beat Cloverdale 17-16 in an eight-inning North Central League I South game that may be the greatest comeback of all time by a Lake County team in any sport.
“We didn”t have a lot of get up and go,” Clear Lake coach Gary Pickle said of Friday”s game. “This might sound strange but Emily (Wingler) pitched one of her better games of the year.”
Wingler struck out four, walked two and allowed only four earned runs as the Cardinals committed six errors.
“We didn”t help her out tonight,” Pickle said.
The Cardinals had only five hits, one each by Morgan Psalmonds, Rebecca Baker, Heather White, Savannah Dekeyser and Vanessa Tullos.
Clear Lake threw out a would-be basestealer and also turned a double play early in the game before Sonoma (9-8) increased a 1-0 lead with four runs in the top of the fourth inning.
Clear Lake plays Montgomery today in the consolation semifinals at 10 a.m. The Cardinals will play the winner/loser of St. Vincent vs. El Molino at 2 p.m.
In other softball action Friday:
Middletown 10, St. Helena 4
At St. Helena, Kiley Agapoff”s RBI single in the top of the fourth snapped a 1-1 tie and put the Middletown Mustangs ahead to stay in NCL I interlock action against St. Helena Saints.
Agapoff stole second and third before scoring on a passed ball to make it 3-1. Middletown (5-8) then pushed its lead to 10-1 with two runs in the fourth and five more in the fifth.
Madi Hicks, who batted eighth in the order, went 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs for the Mustangs. Agapoff, the No. 9 hitter, went 3-for-4 with a RBI, three runs and five stolen bases.
As good as Hicks and Agapoff were against the Saints, teammate Rachel Sutton did them one better, going 4-for-4 with a double, RBI, three runs and four stolen bases. Middletown”s catcher also threw out three runners on the basepaths.
“She had a great game behind the plate and an even better game at the plate,” Middletown coach Bob Cummesky said.
Another standout on defense was third baseman Cheyanne Horvath, according to Cummesky.
“She made three awesome plays,” Cummesky said.
Baseball
Cloverdale 11, Clear Lake 0
At Lakeport, Brett Southard tossed a three-hitter and went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs at the plate to lead the Cloverdale Eagles to a five-inning victory over the Clear Lake Cardinals in NCL I South action.
“We just didn”t make the adjustments at the plate,” Clear Lake coach Gary Milhaupt said. “He lived on that outside corner and we kept trying to pull it instead of going with the pitch. You can”t do that.”
Cloverdale scored seven times in the top of the fifth to bring an early conclusion to the contest, which was called because of the 10-run rule.
“We made six errors and that”s being charitable,” Milhaupt said.
Losing pitcher Oren Ruffcorn allowed nine runs, only three of which were earned, in 4 2/3 innings.
Cloverdale improved to 3-1 in the South standings while Clear Lake dropped to 2-3 and 7-8 overall.
St. Helena 9, Middletown 8
At St. Helena, NCL I South leader St. Helena rallied from an 8-3 deficit after two innings to beat the Middletown Mustangs in NCL I interlock action and split the season series between the two teams. Middletown won 7-5 on April 12 in Middletown.
St. Helena closed to 8-5 in the bottom of the third, 8-6 in the fourth and then pushed ahead to stay with a three-run fifth inning.
“We”re playing too tight on defense,” Middletown coach Mitch Tucker said of his team”s four errors. “We had a bunch of people out of position, but we”re getting healthy and we should return to where we were a few weeks ago.”
Middletown took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first but Charles Bertoli”s three-run homer in the bottom half put the Saints in front. Middletown countered with a seven-run top of the second.
Bryan Holt went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs to lead the Mustangs and Andres Fernandez went 2-for-3. Bertoli went 2-for-3 with four RBIs for the Saints (11-8) and he also was the winning pitcher in relief.
Connor Chick, the second of three Middletown pitchers, took the loss.
Anderson Valley 3, Upper Lake 2
At Upper Lake, the Upper Lake Cougars didn”t play defense behind starting pitcher Billy Armstrong and they didn”t support him at the plate either in a non-league loss to Anderson Valley on Thursday afternoon.
Both teams had just one hit while combining for 10 errors.
Armstrong worked all seven innings for the Cougars (2-12), striking out eight and walking two. He took a no-hitter into the top of the sixth before allowing a single.
“He pitched an outstanding game and the team just did not help him out,” Upper Lake coach Jim Green said.
Anderson Valley took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second, the result of three straight Upper Lake errors. The Cougars came back to tie it with single runs in the third and fourth, but the Panthers pushed across what proved to the winning run on consecutive errors by the Cougars in the top of the sixth.
Chris Colon (1-for-3) singled in the bottom of the sixth for Upper Lake”s lone hit.
“We couldn”t buy the hit we needed,” Green said. “We should have won it.”
Tennis
St. Helena 3, Middletown 2
At Middletown, St. Helena capped an 8-0 run through the Coastal Mountain Conference standings with a hard-fought win over the Middletown Mustangs in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Middletown finishes 5-3.
The Mustangs” two wins came in second singles, where Cody Astley beat Kyle Jimenez 7-6 (7-3), 2-6, 11-9, and in first doubles, where Nika Gibbs and Jeremy Turner defeated Callie Flood and Sarah Gamble 6-4, 2-6, 10-3.
The CMC Champion-ships open Monday at 9 a.m. at Mendocino College in Ukiah.
