ROHNERT PARK >> A wild first inning was the first clue that a marathon North Central League II softball game on Tuesday afternoon between the visiting Upper Lake Cougars and the Technology Titans wasn’t going to be a low-scoring pitcher’s duel.
Upper Lake scored 10 times in the top of the first and Technology countered with seven runs in the bottom of the inning, setting the stage for the Cougars’ 28-17 victory in six innings.
Pitchers on the two teams combined to issue 40 walks — 28 by Tech pitching — and commit 12 errors — nine by the Titans. As you would expect in a game where the final score more closely resembled something you’d see in the NFL, there were some crazy individual statistics.
On the Upper Lake side of the ledger, Adriana Saldana didn’t record an official at-bat but did walk six times while driving in three runs. Four other Cougars also went without a hit but did get credit for RBIs after drawing bases-loaded walks. And Hannah Johnson went 0-for-3 with four RBIs.
While Upper Lake didn’t hit any home runs, three players — Sierra Fugate (3-for-3, 2 RBIs), KJ Taylor (2-for-6, 6 RBIs) and Ashley Aceves (1-for-3, 4 RBIs) — did slug triples, part of the Cougars’ 10-hit total. Tech finished with only eight hits but still managed to push 10 runs across the plate during the final two innings, which wasn’t quite enough to avoid the 10-run rule.
The only scoreless inning was the second. Upper Lake led 22-7 going to the bottom of the fifth.
Winning pitcher Julia Mooney went the distance, striking out nine and walking 12. Mooney and Janee Swaney each had two hits and two RBIs for the Cougars.
Upper Lake (3-3 league, 10-5 overall) returns home Friday to play Rincon Valley Christian at 4 p.m. Next week the Cougars are home Tuesday against Tomales and on the road May 15 to play undefeated NCL II leader Calistoga.
