LAKEPORT >> Hokulani Wickard gave Lower Lake exactly what it needed on Monday afternoon in Lakeport. The sophomore expended just 65 pitches while tossing a three-hit shutout as the Trojans beat the Clear Lake Cardinals 1-0 in junior varsity baseball action at Clear Lake High School.
Clear Lake (10-4) needed a win in its season finale to lock up the undisputed North Central League I championship. Now the Cardinals will share the title with Lower Lake (9-4) if the Trojans can win their final game on Wednesday in Willits.
“Willits hasn’t won a game this season,” Lower Lake coach Jim Peters said. “I started my reserves against them when we played in Lower Lake. I won’t do that this time.”
“It was a battle, an absolute battle,” Clear Lake coach Scott De Leon said of the effort turned in by both teams. “Hoke is a solid, solid pitcher and he’s just got our number.”
Wickard also beat Clear Lake in a 2-1 game on March 31 in Lower Lake.
“He was pitching like a varsity player,” Peters added.
Ahead in the count to almost every batter, Wickard finished with seven strikeouts and no walks. Losing pitcher Ryan Damiata was nearly as good, scattering three hits — all singles — while striking out seven and walking two.
Lower Lake’s only run, which was unearned, came in the top of the second inning when Ryan Hallsted led off with a single and was forced at second on a grounder by Antonio Padilla. Trying for a double play, the Cardinals threw the ball away at first base, allowing Padilla to advance to second. He moved to third on a passed ball and scored on the same play when Clear Lake’s catcher threw wildly to third base.
Clear Lake’s best scoring opportunity came in the very first inning. Damiata doubled and went to third on a passed ball with one out, but was stranded there as Wickard retired the next two batters, the first on a comebacker that gave Damiata no chance to score.
Solid play on defense by both teams, but especially Lower Lake, figured in the low-scoring affair. The Trojans robbed Clear Lake’s Cody Dillsaver of two hits, including what might have been a game-tying double with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and the potential tying run at first base.
“Their third baseman (Hallsted) made a lunging backhand stab to keep the ball from going down the left-field line,” De Leon said.
Lower Lake also robbed Dillsaver in the bottom of the fifth when center fielder Reed Diener made a nice running catch.
Likewise, Clear Lake center fielder Max De Leon took away a hit from Ethan Watson with a sliding catch in the top of the third, according to coach De Leon.
“Both shortstops (Lower Lake’s Watson and Clear Lake’s Alex Adams) also had a really good day,” De Leon said.
While Lower Lake sailed through the first half of its league schedule, the second half has been a different story. Entering play Monday the Trojans had lost back-to-back road games to Kelseyville and Middletown, putting their league title hopes in serious jeopardy.
“The same thing happened to our junior varsity basketball team,” Peters said. “It was simply a matter of not making mistakes. We didn’t today and Hoke pitched a great game.”
While Lower Lake has struggled for most of the second half, just the opposite is true for Clear Lake, which won six of its final seven.
“We dropped a couple of games early I didn’t think we would lose,” De Leon said. “But my kids battled hard and worked hard every day. Every one of my kids did a great job.”
De Leon said the Trojans deserved the victory and praised them for their outstanding effort.
“Lower Lake played a great ballgame,” De Leon said.
Wickard, Hallsted and Eric Graves had Lower Lake’s only hits. Jake Jackson had a double for Clear Lake.
