FORT BRAGG >> Ryan Damiata’s two-out bloop single fell just beyond the grasp of a diving Fort Bragg shortstop in shallow left field to score Jason Garrison with the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning on Friday afternoon as the Clear Lake Cardinals beat the Timberwolves 3-2 in North Central League I varsity baseball action in Fort Bragg.
Damiata’s hit dropped into no-man’s land between the retreating Fort Bragg shortstop and the hard-charging left-fielder, according to Clear Lake coach Zane Jensen.
Damiata made that run stand up, too. The junior went the distance on the mound for Clear Lake (6-7 league, 7-16 overall), allowing just two hits. He struck out four and walked three while throwing 102 pitches, most of them for strikes.
“A fantastic outing,” Jensen said. “He threw strikes where he wanted. Our catcher said he didn’t have to move his glove.”
Damiata kept the Timberwolves off balance with a three-pitch repertoire of fastball, cut fastball and curve, according to Jensen.
Clear Lake’s winning rally in the top of the seventh began with a single by Garrison, who was promoted from the junior varsity team before the game because two Cardinals starters were unable to play – one was sick and one was on an excused absence.
“We start our sophomore in left field and he comes up with two big at-bats for us,” Jensen said of Garrison, who moved to second on a groundout and to third on a passed ball before scoring on Damiata’s hit.
Clear Lake grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Cody Dillsaver was hit by a pitch and Garrison drew a walk. Both runners advanced into scoring position on a double steal before Jake Jackson singled them home.
Fort Bragg scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the score.
Jackson and Damiata had two hits apiece for the Cardinals, who need a win in their league and regular-season finale on Tuesday at home against St. Helena to be eligible for postseason play.
“We needed this one and now we’ve got something to play for against St. Helena,” Jensen said.
In other baseball action Friday:
St. Helena 15, Lower Lake 2
At St. Helena, the Lower Lake Trojans lost in five innings to the St. Helena Saints, falling to 0-13 in league play and 5-15 overall.
Lower Lake has one last opportunity to avoid a winless league campaign on Tuesday when it plays at Willits.
Jordan McGrath went 2-for-2 with a triple and two RBIs for the Trojans, who scored single runs in the first and third innings. McGrath tripled home Ethan Watson in the first inning and singled home Watson in the third.
Eric Graves (1-for-1) had the only other Lower Lake hit.
Losing pitcher Sean McCarthy started the game and allowed six runs in 1 1/3 innings.
Softball
Lower Lake 6, St. Helena 3
At St. Helena, the Lower Lake Trojans had all they could handle to beat the St. Helena Saints in NCL I action, lifting their league record to 8-3 and their overall mark to 15-6.
Lower Lake picked up two big insurance runs in the top of the seventh on a RBI single by Azuree Meza and a RBI grounder off the bat of winning pitcher Ashlynn Mock, who limited St. Helena to four hits while striking out four and walking one.
“Both times we’ve played them they’ve played hard against us, so my hat is off to them,” Lower Lake coach Chris Emberson said of the 2-9 Saints. “They do a pretty good job of hitting the ball up and down their lineup.”
Lower Lake’s defense didn’t help out Mock much – she allowed only one earned run.
“The first four innings we played great, then we started throwing the ball around for some reason,” Emberson said of the Trojans’ five errors. “That was kind of disturbing.”
Catcher Destiny Apodaca did throw out two runners on the basepaths, the final one ending the game as a St. Helena runner tried to advance from second to third on a pitch in the dirt.
Jolean Scarborough went 2-for-4 with a double and two stolen bases to spark Lower Lake’s offense.
“We left a lot of runners in scoring position,” Emberson said. “We were missing that one big hit that could have helped us pull away.”
