LOWER LAKE >> What appeared to be a mismatch on paper was anything but on Tuesday afternoon as the Lower Lake Trojans had to rally for four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to turn back the upset-minded St. Helena Saints 7-6 in a North Central League I softball game at Lower Lake.
Lower Lake (4-1 league, 10-4) won despite committing eight errors.
“The only good thing we did was play one-half inning in the bottom of the seventh,” Lower Lake coach Chris Emberson said. “It was one of the worst games I’ve seen one of my teams play. We dropped routine balls and couldn’t make any adjustments at the plate.”
Trailing 6-3, Lower Lake sent five hitters to the plate in the seventh and all reached safely. After a double and an error put runners at the corners, Destiny Apodaca drilled a triple to make it a 6-5 game. Mikelynn Rowe reached on an infield single as Apodaca held her ground at third base, then Kayla Sanderson delivered the game-winning hit, a two-run double into the left-center field gap.
While happy to get the win, Emberson said he had a long postgame chat with his players.
“Sometimes I feel like we’re a bipolar team because we’re capable of beating anyone on a given day, but we’re also capable of losing to anyone.”
Apodaca and Rowe finished with two hits apiece and Alex DeGraw went 1-for-4 with two RBIs.
Winning pitcher Ashlynn Mock had a rough day as well, allowing eight hits, striking out two and walking three.
St. Helena fell to 1-4 in league play.
In other softball action Tuesday:
Kelseyville 10, M’town 0
At Kelseyville, winning pitcher Mogan Profitt carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning as the Kelseyville Knights shut out the Middletown Mustangs in a game called after five innings because of the 10-run rule.
Losing pitcher Savannah McLaughlin led off the Middletown fifth with a clean single, the only hit allowed by Profitt, who struck out four and walked one.
The Knights (3-3, 6-3) pounded out 10 hits. Bib Hamner led the way, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and five RBIs. Bailey Couey and Tymeka Green added two hits apiece.
Kelseyville plays at Cloverdale on Thursday at 4 p.m.
Upper Lake 18, Tomales 0
At Tomales, Julia Mooney pitched a no-hitter and struck out eight as the Upper Lake Cougars improved to 2-0 in the NCL II standings and 5-6 overall with a five-inning victory over the Tomales Braves.
Bailey Young went 2-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs for Upper Lake. Rebecca Harper, Cheyanne Obedoza and Stacy Johnson also drove in three runs each.
The Cougars staked Mooney to a 12-0 lead after two innings.
Upper Lake beat Rincon Valley Christian 11-5 in its league opener last Friday in Upper Lake. Mooney struck out eight and walked five while Katlyn Minnis anchored the offense by going 3-for-3 with a RBI.
Baseball
Clear Lake 10, Fort Bragg 5
At Lakeport, Brandon Coakley pitched 2 2/3 innings for the victory in his 2016 debut and the Clear Lake Cardinals upended the Fort Bragg Timberwolves, leaving both teams 3-3 in the NCL I standings.
Coakley, a left-hander, allowed just one hit and no runs in relief of starter Isaac Lewis, who left the game with the Cardinals trailing 5-4.
Clear Lake pushed ahead to stay with two runs in the bottom of the third and added to its lead the rest of the way, scoring single runs in the fourth and fifth innings and two more in the sixth.
Better yet for coach Zane Jensen’s squad, which entered play with a 3-12 overall record, the Cardinals committed no errors.
Ryan Damiata went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs to spearhead a 13-hit Clear Lake attack. Tyler Manning, Hunter Daily and Cody Dillsaver added two hits apiece. Coakley went 1-for-4 with two RBIs.
St. Helena 17, Lower Lake 7
At Lower Lake, Ryan Hallstead’s three-run double in the bottom of the first inning and Hokulani Wickard’s two-run single during a four-run Lower Lake fourth wasn’t nearly enough for the Trojans in a five-inning loss to the St. Helena Saints.
St. Helena (3-2) scored its runs in bunches, pushing across six runs in the top of the first, three more in the second and eight in the top of the fourth.
Lower Lake (0-6, 5-8) had just five hits and committed six errors.
Ethan Watson, Reed Diener and Isaiah Klein had the other Lower Lake hits.
Tennis
Cloverdale 3, Clear Lake 2
At Cloverdale, Ethan Jones won 7-5, 6-2 in second singles while teammates Lexi Burke and Bobby Lasher won 6-2, 6-2 in second doubles for the Clear Lake Cardinals in a close loss to the Cloverdale Eagles in Coastal Mountain Conference play.
Cloverdale winners were Luke Pope over Liam Stahl 6-4, 6-1 in first singles, Paige Wasniak over Subhagya Joshi 6-2, 6-1 in third singles, and Jordan Persons and Derek Rilea over Sereno Dominguez and Scotty Mather 6-1, 6-2 in first doubles.
Clear Lake wraps up its regular-season schedule Thursday in St. Helena.
Middletown 3, K’ville 2
At Hidden Valley Lake, the Middletown Mustangs had only three healthy players as they swept all three singles matches against the Kelseyville Knights.
Without enough players this season, Middletown has forfeited in second doubles to all of its opponents. On Tuesday, chicken pox sent singles player Robert Amante and doubles player Christian Nikolov to the sidelines. Nikolov’s partner in first doubles, Trevor Smith, replaced Amante in second singles and beat Emma Farrell 6-0, 6-0.
In the other two singles matches, undefeated freshman Solomon Malicay beat Josh Bridges 6-1, 6-3 in first singles while Johnny Nance defeated Merin Rixen 6-4, 6-1 in third singles.
Kelseyville won both doubles matches by forfeit.
Middletown returns to action April 28-29 when the CMC Championships take place at Mendocino College in Ukiah.
JV baseball
Lower Lake 7, St. Helena 3
At St. Helena, Bryan Fonseca pitched a four-hitter and struck out six as the Lower Lake junior varsity baseball team beat the St. Helena Saints in NCL I action.
Lower Lake is not 4-2 in league play and 7-3 overall.
Gage Thayer led the Trojans at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a triple, and Izzac Carver went 2-for-4 with a RBI.
