ST. HELENA — St. Helena broke up a 2-2 pitcher”s duel with six runs in the top of the seventh inning to beat the Middletown Mustangs 8-2 in North Central League I varsity baseball action Tuesday in Middletown.
Middletown ace Kyle Brown worked into the top of the seventh of a 2-2 game but departed with the bases loaded and no outs. Blaine Amos relieved and gave up a two-run single to Danny Brink. The league-leading Saints (7-1) added four more runs in the inning to make it 8-2.
Middletown twice trailed by a run. Logan Smith”s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the fifth knotted the score at 1, and a run-scoring throwing error by the Saints in the bottom of the sixth allowed the Mustangs to pull even at 2.
“It was a great baseball game,” Middletown coach Mitch Tucker said. “I couldn”t ask more from our defense. We made some great plays to stay in it.”
St. Helena”s Jimmy Figueroa, working in relief of starter Jonathon Wignall, was the winner. Charles Bertoli (2-for-3) drove in each of the Saints” first two runs with a sacrifice fly in the fourth and a RBI single in the sixth. He also had a run-scoring double in the seventh.
Besides Smith”s single, Middletown”s only other hits were singles by Amos, Mike Davis and Brad Bologna.
In other action Tuesday:
Softball
Clear Lake 16, Lower Lake 2
At Lakeport, the Clear Lake Cardinals spotted the Lower Lake Trojans a 2-0 lead before scoring nine times in the bottom of the second of their NCL I softball game.
Clear Lake remains undefeated in league play at 8-0 and improves to 13-2 on the season. Lower Lake is 4-6 in league and 11-8 overall.
Both of the Trojans” runs scored in the top of the second as winning pitcher Emily Wingler, who struggled with her control throughout the game, issued back-to-back bases-loaded walks to losing pitcher Shelbie Harris and Raelynn Scott. Clear Lake answered with nine runs in the bottom of the second, an inning in which they sent 12 batters to the plate. The big blow was Heather White”s bases-loaded triple. Vanessa Tullos (3-for-3) also tripled home a run during the uprising.
Clear Lake added four more runs in the third and three in the fourth. The game was called after 4 1/2 innings because of the 10-run rule.
Coree Alexander went 2-for-3 with three RBI for Clear Lake and Savannah Dekeyser went 2-for-3 with a double and a RBI. Morgan Psalmonds and Hannah Norwood also had two hits apiece.
Adrina Miller went 2-for-3 against Wingler, who allowed only three hits. Amanda Graf had the other Lower Lake hit.
Middletown 6, St. Helena 3
At Middletown, Kaitlyn Swank allowed just one hit and overcame 10 walks as the Middletown Mustangs beat the St. Helena Saints in NCL I action.
“Swank threw a great game,” Middletown coach Bob Cummesky said. “She was around the zone the whole time … her ball was moving.”
Swank worked six-plus innings for Middletown (2-5, 5-11) before giving way to Renee Edwards in the seventh. Edwards struck out two of the four batters she faced to earn the save.
Middletown scored a run in the first and two more in the second to open up a 3-0 lead. St. Helena closed to 3-2 in the top of the fourth but Middletown got both of those runs back in the bottom of the inning to go up 5-2.
Swank, who struck out five, took a 6-2 lead into the seventh.
Rachel Sutton went 1-for-2 with a double and three RBI to power the Middletown offense. Rachel Ramirez, playing her first game of the season in right field, went 1-for-3 with a RBI.
“She broke her collar bone during wrestling and she wasn”t sure if she”d play at all this season,” Cummesky said. “She did a great job.”
St. Vincent 19, Upper Lake 1
At Petaluma, the St. Vincent Mustangs parlayed five errors and four walks into a 13-run bottom of the first inning while beating the Upper Lake Cougars in NCL II play.
Upper Lake”s lone run came in the top of the third when Amber McQueen and losing pitcher Kat Edmonds opened the inning with back-to-back doubles.
“I thought we had something good going,” Upper Lake coach Kelly Coburn said.
The Cougars are 2-3 in league play and 5-5 overall.
Fort Bragg 18, Kelseyville 6
At Kelseyville, Kelsey-ville took a 6-0 lead into the bottom of the second inning only to lose to Fort Bragg in NCL I softball action.
Fort Bragg (5-3) push-ed in front to stay with a nine-run second.
The game was called after 4 1/2 innings because of the 10-run rule.
Kenzie Gould went 3-for-4 with a double and a RBI for Kelseyville. Kyra Rudnick, Destiny Pagan and Dakota Rixen added two hits apiece.
JV softball
Middletown 13, St. Helena 11
At Middletown, the Middletown Mustangs scored six times in the bottom of the sixth inning to erase an 11-7 deficit and beat the St. Helena Saints in junior varsity softball action.
Allegra Macedo pitched all seven innings for the Mustangs (5-2), striking out three and walking five.
Jessica Eixenberger went 3-for-3 for Middletown, Ashely Hart went 2-for-5 with a double, and Morgan Manes went 1-for-3.
