LAKEPORT — Madison Klee”s seventh strikeout of the game snuffed out a Clear Lake rally and preserved Ukiah”s 4-3 victory over the Cardinals in non-league varsity softball action Thursday afternoon in Lakeport.
Kyndle Smallcomb”s RBI single in the top of the seventh gave Ukiah a 4-1 lead going to the bottom of the inning. Clear Lake (1-1) closed to 4-3 on a two-out, two-run single by Savannah Dekeyser. Klee appeared to pitch around Kelcie Reynolds, walking her on four pitches, before throwing a fastball past No. 9 hitter Hannah Norwood, a freshman, who swung and miss to end the game.
Norwood singled in her previous at-bat – one of only four Clear Lake hits going into the seventh inning — but she fell behind Klee 1-2 in the seventh before striking out.
“I think they went after our No. 9 hitter,” Clear Lake coach Gary Pickle said when asked about the way the Wildcats pitched to Reynolds, the next-to-last batter of the game. “If I were in their position I would have done the same thing. We allowed it to come down to the No. 9 hitter and we never should have let that happen.”
The Wildcats (2-0) scratched out single runs in the third, fifth, sixth and seventh innings to open up a 4-1 lead.
Clear Lake scored first, taking a 1-0 lead on Heather White”s RBI double in the bottom of the first. Other than White”s double, the Cardinals didn”t come up with many other key hits. They left the bases loaded in the third and fourth innings and stranded 12 runners overall.
“We had opportunities to break the game open and didn”t do it,” Pickle said. “When you squander opportunities you”re going to get beat.”
The Wildcats pretty much beat the Cardinals at their own game. They put runners on base through hits and errors, moved them along and picked up a handful of clutch singles.
Klee”s RBI single in the top of the fifth put Ukiah ahead to stay at 2-1 as she drove in teammate Taylor Malis from third base. The Wildcats made it 3-1 in the sixth on a two-out RBI single by Raquel Contreras.
Faced with similar chances, the Cardinals lacked that one big hit. Losing pitcher Emily Wingler struck out with the bases loaded in the third and White bounced out to second base with the bases jammed in the fourth. Clear Lake also left a runner at second in the sixth when Marsha”na Sugimoto struck out on a full-count pitch.
“That was the key … we never did come through with the key hit and they did,” Pickle said.
Pickle said he wasn”t upset with his team”s effort – far from it.
“We played a really good team today and they played really well,” Pickle said. “Sometimes you play good teams and you get beat.”
Both pitchers went the distance. Klee scattered six hits, struck out seven, walked six and hit three. Wingler allowed nine hits, two earned runs, struck out one and walked none.
White (2-for-4) was the only Clear Lake player with more than one hit. Malis went 2-for-3 and Smallcomb 2-for-4 for the Wildcats.
Clear Lake committed three more errors after making four in a 10-5 win over Montgomery on Tuesday. While the Cardinals flashed the leather on a handful of occasions — most notably a 5-6-3 putout to open the top of the fourth, an inning-ending 4-3 double play initiated by White that saved a run in the top of the fifth, a sliding catch by center fielder Dekeyser to end the sixth, and Sugimoto”s throw home from left field to nail a Ukiah runner and save another run in the seventh — they also struggled on a couple of routine plays that directly led to two Ukiah runs.
“We made the tough plays, now we just need to make the easy ones,” Pickle said.
The same two teams scrimmaged on March 3 and while no score was kept, it was every bit as close as Thursday”s game, according to Pickle.
“I knew it was going to be a tight game going in,” he said.
