HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE >> Kelseyville’s Drew Ashby had to be one patient soul on Wednesday during the Knights’ Coastal Mountain Conference tennis match against the Middletown Mustangs at Hidden Valley Lake.
Chris King beat Ashby 6-1, 7-5 in first singles, a match that was delayed twice because King’s right leg kept cramping up. King had a 4-1 lead in the second set when cramp No. 1 occurred.
“He was flat out on the ground for a good 10 minutes or so as we rubbed it out,” Middletown coach Vic Wroobel said.
Ashby battled back to a 5-5 tie when King’s cramp returned, forcing a 15-minute delay.
“Poor Drew had to stand around waiting again,” Wroobel said.
King declined the opportunity to retire from the match and was able to beat Ashby on basically one good leg, according to Wroobel.
“He (King) is fortunate he didn’t have to go after many corner shots,” Wroobel said. “He somehow gutted it out on the one leg. He collapsed after the match (with fatigue).”
Middletown went on to win the match 5-0 and run its conference record to 4-0. The only other undefeated team in the CMC is St. Helena, who the Mustangs face twice in the closing weeks of the season.
The only match to go more than the minimum two sets was in second singles where Robert Amante rallied to beat Claire Vargas 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Trevor Smith beat Mary McCallister 6-1, 6-3 in third singles.
In doubles action, Ari Diaz and Christian Nikolov were 6-1, 6-0 winners over Milly Cacho and Merin Rixen in No. 1 doubles. G. Gonzalez and Johnny Nance finished off the Middletown sweep with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Summer Brown and Emma Farrell in No. 2 doubles.
Middletown returns to action Friday in Cloverdale where Wroobel said King’s fluid intake will be greatly increased. Kelseyville’s next match is Tuesday at home against Clear Lake.
In other sports action Wednesday:
Golf
St. Vincent wins
at Hidden Valley
At Hidden Valley Lake, St. Vincent (20-0) remained undefeated in the Coastal Mountain Conference South golf standings with a victory on Middletown’s home course. St. Vincent finished with 342 to Middletown’s 361, Kelseyville’s 375, Clear Lake’s 425 and Rincon Valley Christian’s 449. St. Helena’s team was a no-show.
“I thought it was Middletown’s one and only opportunity to chip away at St. Vincent’s lead (in the conference standings),” Kelseyville coach John Berry said, “but it wasn’t to be.”
Alex Graham led St. Vincent with a 3-over-par 75. Two other golfers joined him in the 70s — Middletown’s Chasen Tom at 78 with four birdies and Kelseyville’s Matt Wotherspoon at 79 with three birdies. Middletown’s Riley Adams just missed with a round of 80 that featured two birdies.
Playing from the men’s teams at HVL, Kelseyville’s Sophie Sells fired a 91.
“She continues to play pretty good golf especially playing from the men’s tees,” Berry said.
Brian Holt’s 102 led Clear Lake.
The CMC South returns to action next Wednesday at Aetna Springs at 2 p.m.
JV baseball
Kelseyville 2
Clear Lake 1
At Kelseyville, Ean Valenzuela’s walk-off RBI single capped a two-run Kelseyville rally in the bottom of the seventh as the Knights beat the Clear Lake Cardinals in a NCL I junior varsity baseball thriller.
Clear Lake (3-2 league) went up 1-0 in the top of the fourth on a double-play grounder that scored a run.
Winning pitcher Gideon Turner and losing pitcher Ryan Damiata battled it out all day. Turner struck out four and walked two in going the distance. Damiata took a two-hit shutout into the seventh but couldn’t retire any of the five batters he faced in the inning. He struck out six and walked two.
