LOWER LAKE >> Though she’s not the starting catcher for the Lower Lake Trojans, that’s exactly where Mikelynn Rowe found herself playing on her 16th birthday Tuesday afternoon against the visiting Pierce Bears.
Rowe celebrated too, going 5-for-5 with two doubles, a triple, three RBIs and four runs scored as Lower Lake began a new softball season with a 17-7 non-league victory. The game was called because of the 10-run rule after the Trojans scored five times in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“She’ll be a four-year starter before she graduates,” Lower Lake coach Chris Emberson said of the sophomore Rowe. “She can play anywhere. She was supposed to start at first base today but I had to move some people around. She sees the ball very well at the plate, she can bunt, hit for power, run the bases and play defense. She’s a five-tool player. She squared everything up today.”
Rowe’s triple to the right-center field gap in the bottom of the fourth helped the Trojans (1-0) wrestle the lead back from the Bears, who scored five times in the top of the inning to knot the score at 7-all. Marnae Johnson’s squeeze bunt scored Rowe to put Lower Lake in front to stay at 8-7 and an error on the play allowed Johnson to reach second. Kayla Sanderson followed with a RBI single to make it a 9-7 game. After Sanderson advanced to second base on a groundout, freshman Airiana Vandiver followed with a RBI single to make it 10-7.
The Trojans went on to score twice more in the fifth and five times in the sixth. They tallied at least one run in every inning.
“I like the top of our order and our lineup,” Emberson said. “We have super depth but we’re young and a lot of our younger players need game experience.”
How young? The Trojans, a senior-dominated team a year ago when they went 18-7, including 11-3 in the North Central League I standings, have seven freshmen and four sophomores among their 18 players. Two of the freshmen are also Lower Lake’s top two pitchers – Shelby Sapeta and Vandiver Sapeta started against Pierce and lasted 3 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs (four earned) on four hits, striking out three and walking two. Vandiver relieved during the Bears’ five-run fourth and recorded two big outs to prevent Pierce from doing even more damage in the inning.
“I like the way the freshmen threw the ball,” Emberson said. “They allowed only three walks between team.”
Vandiver earned the victory with 2 2/3 innings of work. She allowed only one hit and no runs.
Lower Lake jumped ahead 6-0 with a four-run first and two-run second.
Jolean Scarborough, one of only three seniors on the Lower Lake roster, went 3-for-4 with four runs scored and a RBI. Sanderson, a junior, finished the game 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs.
Lower Lake committed six errors, half of them during Pierce’s big fourth inning.
“We need to play better defense,” Emberson said. “Part of the problem today was having people play out of position.”
Emberson said he benched two starters for missing a practice, forcing him to shuffle his lineup.
Lower Lake returns to action Thursday at Upper Lake beginning at 3:30 p.m.
