PETALUMA >> It didn’t take long for Clear Lake to find out how the other half lives.
Two days after rolling past the Calistoga Wildcats 14-1 in their 2015 softball opener, the Cardinals were poised to improve to 2-0 on the season before playing the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday against Casa Grande in Petaluma.
Clear Lake took a 3-0 lead into the inning only to fall 4-3 to the Gauchos, who improved to 3-0 with their final at-bat rally.
“If you get beat, you get beat,” Clear Lake coach Gary Pickle said of the heartbreaking loss. “But when half your team is lethargic, it makes you feel not to warm and fuzzy inside.”
It wasn’t so much what Casa Grande did in the bottom of the seventh as it was what Clear Lake didn’t do, namely play defense. Two of the Cardinals’ three errors came in the inning.
Losing pitcher Rachel Wingler took a three-hit shutout into the seventh. A one-out error with runners at first and third plated Casa Grande’s first run and a run-scoring wild pitch made it 3-2. Left fielder Emily Omiotek, who had a big day for the Cardinals, briefly saved the game by running down a fly ball that had hit written all over it, according to Pickle. Wingler then hit a Casa Grande batter to load the bases before surrendering a RBI single that tied the game. A booted grounder at third base ended it as the winning run raced home from third.
“Rachel pitched really well up until the seventh,” Pickle said of his junior, who struck out three and walked one in 6 2/3 innings.
Clear Lake grabbed a 3-0 lead with two runs in the top of the third inning and another in the fourth. The Cardinals also ran themselves out of a couple of runs, including in the top of the seventh when they had two on and no outs. A double play, one during which Clear Lake had runners called out at home and then third base, prevented the Cardinals from padding their lead.
Clear Lake out-hit Casa Grande 12-6 to no avail.
“It was a good test for us and lets us know where we need to go,” Pickle said. “It was a good lesson if they learned from it. I guess we’ll find out.”
Two of Clear Lake’s slappers, Omiotek and Mina Werner, went 3-for-3 in the loss. Destinee Garcia added two hits and a RBI and Hannah Norwood doubled and drove in a run. In addition to running down a fly ball in the bottom of the seventh for an out, Omiotek also threw out a runner at the plate in the second inning to keep the Gauchos off the scoreboard.
“My outfield played very well,” Pickle said.
Clear Lake’s job doesn’t get any easier on Tuesday when it visits Ukiah at 4 p.m. The Cardinals could have shortstop Aliza Atkins back for that game as she has been medically cleared to start practicing with the team.
