UPPER LAKE >> The Lower Lake High School softball team is in the midst of retooling its lineup this season after losing several key starters to graduation, but the Trojans can still hit the ball. They proved that Thursday afternoon against the Upper Lake Cougars in non-league action at Upper Lake.
Lower Lake scored 11 times in the top of the first inning and led 17-2 after two innings en route to a 25-2 victory. The game was called after five innings because of the 10-run rule.
Both teams carried 1-0 records into the game after winning their season openers earlier in the week but the Trojans continued their mastery of the Cougars, beating them for the sixth time in a row and for the fifth straight time by a lopsided margin.
“I’m super, super happy with the way we’re hitting average pitching,” Lower Lake coach Chris Emberson said. “(Jolean) Scarborough and (Mikelynn) Rowe are really on fire.”
Scarborough went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and scored four times while Rowe went 2-for-3 with a triple, three RBIs and three runs scored. She is 7-for-8 in first two games for Lower Lake (2-0).
In fact, the top four hitters in Lower Lake’s lineup — Scarborough, Rowe, Destiny Apodaca (3-for-6, three RBIs) and Kayla Sanderson (2-for-3, triple, four RBIs) — were a combined 10-for-16 with two triples and 14 RBIs. All are holdovers from last year’s 18-7 team.
“I hope the bats keep going,” Emberson said.
Upper Lake was looking for its first win against another Lake County school since beating Lower Lake 17-16 early in the 2012 season. The Cougars entered play Thursday having lost 11 in a row to county opponents, a streak that now stands at 12 straight. They still have games remaining with Kelseyville (March 10), Clear Lake (March 16) and Middletown (March 17).
“The wheels fell off and we couldn’t put them back on,” Upper Lake coach Kelly Coburn said of Lower Lake’s 11-run first. “They (Trojans) hit the ball really, really well.”
Upper Lake managed a total of three hits off two Lower Lake pitchers. Winner Shelby Sapeta worked the first two innings and allowed both Upper Lake runs, struck out two and walked two. Airiana Vandiver finished with three innings of one-hit, scoreless relief, striking out four and walking one.
“Their pitching is OK,” Coburn said. “We didn’t have a good day at the plate. We were swinging at crap and letting strikes go by.”
Adrianna Saldana went 2-for-2 for the Cougars (1-1) and Cheyanne Obedoza went 1-for-2 with two RBIs.
Sapeta walked the first two batters she faced in the bottom of the first and both eventually scored on Obedoza’s single. Lower Lake answered with six runs in the top of the second and put up four runs in both the third and fourth innings for a 25-2 lead.
Julia Mooney, the first of two Upper Lake pitchers, took the loss. She lasted 2 1/3 innings, struck out none and walked seven. Katelyn Minnis finished up.
“The nice thing is I got to play all of my (healthy) players,” Emberson said.
Upper Lake is off until March 10 when it hosts Kelseyville at 3:30 p.m. Lower Lake hits the road Tuesday to play Montgomery at 4 p.m.
