MIDDLETOWN >> The music stopped, but Middletown kept on dancing — around the basepaths — on Wednesday afternoon as the Mustangs battered the El Molino Lions on their home diamond en route to an 11-3 non-league victory.
When it was over, it was a masterpiece of defense followed by a rock-’n’-roll fourth inning in which the Mustangs sent 10 batters to the plate while scoring seven runs to open up an 8-0 lead.
The big blow offensively was struck by Middletown right fielder Albert Ruske. who crushed a hanging curve over the fence in left field for a three-run home run to cap the Mustangs’ scoring in the inning. The blast had significance written all over it. For the Mustangs (2-4), the game and maybe an improvement over last season. For Ruske it was his first home run in his third season of playing for the Mustangs.
Almost — but not quite — as exciting were the first three innings, each of which ended on a double play.
“For everybody in the game (the Ruske home run) provided a big boost,” said Middletown coach Brad Holt. “For Ruske it was huge just because he’s shown that he can play balanced baseball.”
Holt also lavished praise on his defense. “It was fantastic. Nothing short of that,” he said.
And Holt didn’t stop there. He also commended pitcher Travis Williams, who went a full seven innings in only his second start. Williams struck out only two batters.
But, said Holt, “He’s kind of a location pitcher.”
Asked if Williams will become more of a full-time pitcher on the Middletown staff, Holt observed, “He’s definitely in the mix.”
Ruske, Chris Davis, Brett Pike and Ezekiel Perez each had two hits among Middletown’s team total of 10. Williams (1-for-3) also helped his own cause by driving in a run.
El Molino scored all of its runs in the top of the fifth inning, but Middletown answered with two in the bottom half for a 10-3 lead. The Mustangs added an insurance run in the sixth.
“He looked a little fatigued in the fifth but he didn’t want to come out,” Holt said of Williams. “He finished strong.”
Middletown returns to action Monday at home against Healdsburg at 4 p.m.
In other action Thursday:
Softball
Clear Lake 5, Ukiah 4 (8 inn.)
At Petaluma, on the verge of throwing away the lead and the game on Thursday afternoon, which is exactly what the Clear Lake Cardinals did Tuesday in a 9-6 home loss to Ukiah, Madi Ferguson and Rachel Wingler stepped up and made sure that didn’t happen against the St. Vincent Mustangs.
Ferguson delivered a booming run-scoring triple in the top of the eighth inning and Wingler retired the heart of St. Vincent’s batting order in the bottom of the eight as the Cardinals held on to beat the Mustangs 5-4 in extra innings at Petaluma.
Similar to the Ukiah loss, a game in which the Cardinals coughed up a 6-3 lead in the seventh inning, Clear Lake couldn’t hold a 4-1 advantage late against the Mustangs, who rallied with two runs in the sixth and another in the seventh to force extra innings. St. Vincent had a chance to win the game in the seventh with the potential go-ahead run standing at third base with two outs, but Wingler worked out of the jam.
In the top of the eighth, Ferguson’s one-out triple down the right-field line scored Sara Ogden to snap the 4-4 tie. A baserunning blunder cost the Cardinals a chance at another run although Wingler wouldn’t need it in the bottom of the eighth as she dispatched the third, fourth and fifth hitters in St. Vincent’s lineup in order.
“That hit by Ferguson was really huge,” Clear Lake coach Doug Wingler said. “After what happened on Tuesday, we needed it. We almost let it get away again today, but we didn’t.”
Seven different Cardinals had hits in the win, including a 2-for-4 day by Alicia Ledesma, who doubled and drove in two runs. Wingler and Shyanne Chapin also drove in runs.
Wingler’s pitching line featured six strikeouts and one walk. She scattered four hits and allowed only one earned run.
Clear Lake, now 3-1 overall, hosts Maria Carillo of Santa Rosa today at 11 a.m.
In other softball action Thursday:
Lower Lake 7, Piner 2
At Santa Rosa, the Lower Lake Trojans built a 7-0 lead through five innings and beat the Piner Prospectors in non-league action, pushing their season record to 3-2.
The Trojans pounded out 11 hits and had scoring opportunities virtually every inning, especially early on, according to Lower Lake head coach Chris Emberson.
“We did leave a lot of runners in scoring position,” Emberson said. “We were one hit away from breaking it open a couple of times.”
While the top of the Lower Lake order struggled a bit, the bottom of the order came through again, according to Emberson.
“(Adrianna) Illia and (Mikelynn) Rowe are doing a great job,” Emberson said. “The bottom of the order is really stepping it up.”
Rowe went 1-for-3 with two RBIs while Illia added a hit and a RBI. Lower Lake’s big stick against the Prospectors was Jolean Scarborough, who went 3-for-4 with a double, a RBI and three runs scored. Kristen Celli also had two hits and a RBI and Azuree Meza went 2-for-4.
Winning pitcher Ashlynn Mock scattered four hits, struck out six and walked only one.
“She threw her best game,” Emberson said.
Piner scored both of its runs in the sixth.
The Trojans hit the road today to play Santa Rosa High School at 10 a.m., a game Emberson said will help him figure out where Lower Lake stands as it draws closer to the start of North Central League I play.
“This team has a lot of talent, but we also have a lot of question marks,” Emberson said.
Santa Rosa 13, Middletown 2
At Middletown, a game much closer than the final score indicates got away from the Middletown Mustangs in the top of the seventh when Santa Rosa, taking advantage of three Mustang errors with two outs, went on to score nine times in the inning.
Middletown trailed 4-1 entering the seventh. It was 5-1 with two outs when the avalanche of errors, mixed in with a handful of Santa Rosa hits, began.
“Everything just went wrong today,” Middletown coach Barry Glosser said. “We were missing two starters, but that’s not an excuse. It wasn’t like the girls who made the errors hadn’t played at those positions. If we’re going to win games, everyone’s got to be up and there was just no energy today, I don’t know why. We’ve got to be motivated and we weren’t.
“That should have been a 5-2 game,” Glosser added.
Losing pitcher Olivia Glosser was locked in a pitching duel most of the way with her Santa Rosa counterpart. It was a 2-1 Santa Rosa lead until the top of the fifth when the Panthers added two more runs to go up 4-1.
That was all the scoring until the seventh. Middletown’s final run came in the bottom half.
Glosser went the distance for the Mustangs, struck out nine and walked only one. Brittney Holt went 2-for-3 to lead Middletown at the plate.
Middletown is home today to play Piner at noon and hits the road Monday to play Willows at 4 p.m.
