FORT BRAGG >> Lower Lake’s season officially turned 18 on Tuesday afternoon as the Trojans and winning pitcher Shelbie Harris overpowered the Fort Bragg Timberwolves, 10-0, in a North Central League I softball game on the Mendocino County coast.
It was the 18th win of the season for the Trojans, who close out league play with a 10-4 mark, good for third place in the final NCL I standings. They’ll take an 18-6 overall record into the North Coast Section Division IV at-large and seeding meeting on Sunday and will open play in the sectional tournament early next week at a site and time to be determined.
“We’re looking at a No. 8 seed, possibly No. 7,” Lower Lake coach Chris Emberson said with an eye toward the 16-team playoff field in Division IV. “Obviously our goal is to get a home game. We’ll see where they put us.”
Harris put the Timberwolves in their place with a two-hitter. She allowed only one Fort Bragg runner to make it as far as third base, that in the first inning when she pitched out of a second-and-third jam with one out. That was the only time in the game Harris found herself in any kind of trouble against the Timberwolves.
“She had a fabulous game,” Emberson said of his senior, who was making her final start in a league game. “She had really good command on her changeup, her curve was working really well, and she threw the fastball with good velocity. She had a good control day (issuing only one walk).”
After allowing a leadoff single in the bottom of the first, Harris didn’t allow another hit until a Fort Bragg player led off the fifth with a single. She finished with 10 strikeouts.
Lower Lake took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning and didn’t score again until a five-run fourth. Destiny Apodca’s ground-rule double made it 2-0 and a pair of clutch two-out, two-run singles by Harris (3-for-5) and Ashlynn Mock (3-for-5) boosted the Trojans’ advantage to 6-0. They capped it off with a four-run seventh.
Lower Lake finished with 15 hits in all, including two each from Kristen Celli and Emma Diener.
In other softball action Tuesday:
Clear Lake vs.
St. Vincent canceled
At Lakeport, in what was suppose to be a battle of league co-champions and a possible preview of the upcoming Division V playoffs, the Clear Lake Cardinals and St. Vincent Mustangs never even got started on Tuesday as umpires failed to show up for the game. The two teams waited more than an hour before agreeing to play a scrimmage. Worse yet for St. Vincent, one of its top players, Hannah Sarlatte, took a foul ball off her helmet facemask while batting and had to leave the field.
St. Vincent is 13-9 overall and Clear Lake 17-5.
Baseball
Son. Academy 6
Upper Lake 0
At Upper Lake, the Upper Lake Cougars closed out their season schedule with a loss to the Sonoma Academy Coyotes in NCL II action.
While the Cougars (1-11, 3-16) didn’t get a hit, they trailed only 1-0 after four innings.
“They threw their ace at us,” Upper Lake coach E.J. Crandell said. “We were doing really good until we made an error (that led to two Sonoma Academy runs) in the fifth. That’s when they went up 3-0.”
Crandell used an all-lefty infield in the top of the seventh to reward some of his bench players.
“They almost turned a double play,” he said.
A first-year coach, Crandell said he would return in 2016.
“Next year I know we’re going to be better,” he said. “They’re really starting to get it now. We had no clue at the start of the season.”
Losing pitcher Cody Rybolt went the distance, striking out seven and walking five.
