FORESTVILE — Emily Wingler stopped the El Molino Lions dead in their paw prints Friday as the Clear Lake Cardinals rolled to a 14-0 five-inning softball victory at Forestville.
“Overall the best game we”ve played this season,” Clear Lake coach Gary Pickle said.
Clear Lake (3-1) out-hit El Molino 12-2, didn”t commit an error for the first time this season, and let Wingler do the rest. The senior faced just two batters over the minimum, struck out 10 and didn”t let a ball be hit out of the infield.
So dominating was Wingler that one of the Lions” two hits was a grounder in the bottom of the third inning that struck an El Molino runner at first base. In that situation, the ball is ruled dead, the runner is called out and the batter is credited with a single.
“That broke up her no-hitter,” Pickle said.
El Molino”s only other hit was an infield single to shortstop in the fifth.
Of the three batters Wingler walked, two were thrown out trying to steal by Clear Lake catcher Kelcie Reynolds. The Lions never advanced a runner past first base.
Reynolds also went 3-for-4 with three RBI.
“It was her best day of the season so far,” Pickle said of Reynolds.
Clear Lake staked Wingler to a 5-0 lead before she had thrown her first pitch. After putting up a five-spot in the top of the first, the Cardinals added four runs in the third and five more in the fifth.
Vanessa Tullos went 2-for-4 with a double and five RBI while Wingler went 2-for-3 with a double and a RBI.
“Her only two outs she just missed home runs,” Pickle said of Tullos, who smacked a bases-loaded double in the fifth to drive in three runs.
In other softball action Friday:
Lower Lake 9, Upper Lake 8
At Lower Lake, freshman pitcher Shelbie Harris stranded the potential tying run on second base after giving up a two-run double earlier in the top of the seventh inning, preserving Lower Lake”s victory over the Upper Lake Cougars in non-league action.
Lower Lake (6-2) took a 9-6 lead into the seventh. Kelsey Pearl”s one-out double drove in two runs to make it 9-8, but Harris retired the next two Upper Lake hitters on a popup to shortstop and a grounder to second base.
“She keeps the ball down real well and gets a lot of grounders,” Lower Lake coach Chris Emberson said of Harris, now 2-0 on the season. “Her pitches have a lot of downward movement.”
Harris also went 2-for-3 with a RBI at the plate. In fact, it was her single that knocked in what proved to be the game-winning run in the bottom of the fifth as the Trojans scored twice in the inning to open up a 9-5 lead. Upper Lake (2-2) battled back with a run in the sixth and two in the seventh.
It was the second meeting this season between the two teams and the second one-run game — Upper Lake won 17-16 on March 2 in Upper Lake.
Upper Lake took a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the third when Lower Lake scored four times to pull even. The Trojans pushed ahead to stay with a three-run fourth.
Adrina Miller went 3-for-4 to power Lower Lake”s 12-hit attack against losing pitcher Kat Edmonds, who pitched a complete game. Harris and Selena Ledesma added two hits apiece and Amanda Graf went 1-for-3 with two RBI.
LaShaye Taylor went 2-for-3 with a triple for the Cougars, who were held to five hits by Harris during her seven innings on the mound. She struck out four and walked five.
Baseball
Lower Lake 4, Upper Lake 3
At Lower Lake, Jon Duncan”s RBI double in the bottom of the second inning staked the Lower Lake Trojans to a 4-1 lead and turned out to be the game-winning hit against the Upper Lake Cougars, who closed to 4-3 on Jared Wade”s two-run single in the top of the fifth.
Most of the scoring in this one took place early. After Upper Lake (0-3) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on a Wade RBI single, Lower Lake went ahead 3-1 in the bottom half, the first two runs scoring on back-to-back bases-loaded walks issued by Wade.
Josh McCarty worked 2 2/3 innings of solid relief to record the save. He struck out six batters, including the side in the top of the seventh. Winning pitcher Zef Roofener went the first 4 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and all three Upper Lake runs. He struck out seven and walked three.
Wade went the distance for Upper Lake, striking out six and walking three.
Both teams had five hits. Duncan went 2-for-2 for Lower Lake and Wade went 3-for-4 for Upper Lake.
Arcata 12, Middletown 2 (6 innings), 1st game
Arcata 23, Middletown 0 (5 innings), 2nd game
At Middletown, Middletown pitchers walked or hit a combined 27 Arcata batters in 11 innings while being swept by the Huskies in a non-league doubleheader at Wes Martin Field. Both games were called early because of the 10-run rule.
It all began to go downhill for the Mustangs (4-5) after Arcata scored six runs in the top of the fourth inning in game one to break a 2-2 tie.
Game two was even worse as the Huskies scored in all five innings, including a seven-run fifth that ended a miserable day for the Mustangs.
Middletown”s Luke Humphrey went 2-for-3 in the opener.
For Arcata, Cameron Wallace, a junior, was a combined 6-for-10 on the day with 10 RBI, including a grand slam in game two. He had eight RBI in the nightcap.
