UPPER LAKE >> Cheyanne Obedoza delivered the key hit and Julia Mooney worked out of a big-time jam as the Upper Lake Cougars rallied from an early 4-1 deficit to beat the Esparto Spartans 10-6 in non-league softball action on a red-hot Wednesday afternoon in Upper Lake.
Obedoza, the Cougars’ freshman catcher, stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth inning and Upper Lake trailing 6-5. She promptly cleared the bags with a three-run double that put her team ahead to stay. Bases-loaded walks to Mooney and Stacy Johnson later in the inning completed the five-run rally.
“I am so impressed with her,” Upper Lake coach Kelly Coburn said of Obedoza, who had an eventful day at the plate — going 2-for-3 with six RBIs — and behind it, where she took a hard foul ball off her body but also made a nice diving tag to erase an Esparto runner trying to score from third base early in the game.
Johnson added three hits and three RBIs as the Cougars improved to 2-4 overall.
Mooney went the distance for the win but wasn’t sharp, which was partly due to the Cougars playing for the first time in two weeks and because of the heat — it was easily the warmest day of the year with the mercury climbing into the 90s.
“She didn’t like the heat,” Coburn said.
Mooney struck out seven and walked 10. She got out of a real mess in the top of the fifth when Esparto loaded the bases with no outs only to come away empty. Mooney struck out two straight batters before inducing an inning-ending popup.
Upper Lake led 1-0 after one inning. An eventual second inning saw Esparto score four times in the top half while the Cougars got two of those runs back in the bottom half. Both teams scored twice in the fourth to make it a 6-5 game.
Neither starting pitcher — Upper Lake’s Mooney and Esparto’s Sabrina Jones — received much in the way of support from their defense as both teams committed five errors.
Upper Lake is scheduled to host Geyserville on Friday at 4 p.m.
