MIDDLETOWN >> Lower Lake High School’s drive to the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs, whether it be as an at-large team or a league champion, continued Friday afternoon with a 14-1 victory in six innings over the Middletown Mustangs at Middletown High School.
Lower Lake (9-2 league, 17-4 overall) has won four straight since dropping back-to-back North Central League I game to league leaders Clear Lake and Cloverdale.
“It was tense for a while,” Lower Lake coach Chris Emberson said.
Nursing a 2-1 lead through four innings, the Trojans broke the game open with a two-run fifth followed by a 10-run sixth during which they sent 14 batters to the plate.
“They were making mistakes and then we would get a big hit,” Emberson said. “The wheels fell off for them.”
While the Trojans were adding to their winning streak, Middletown senior pitcher Renee Edwards continued her assault on Lake County’s single-season strikeout record of 249 set in 2007 by Clear Lake’s Brittany Rumfelt. Edwards, a hard-throwing left-hander, fanned seven batters and now has 225 with at least two games remaining — more if the Mustangs can qualify for the playoffs as an at-large team.
Azuree Meza powered Lower Lake’s 13-hit attack by going 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple and four RBIs. Winning pitcher Shelbie Harris, working on a swollen ankle, went the distance, striking out 10, walking one and allowing only two hits. She also went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and was hit by a pitch (in the left elbow).
Edwards and Brittany Holt had the only hits for Middletown (5-7, 10-10).
