LAKEPORT >> Sophomore Lilli Hill won her first high school start as the young Clear Lake Cardinals roughed up the Healdsburg Greyhounds 20-2 in non-league softball action on Wednesday afternoon in Lakeport.
The game was originally scheduled to take place Tuesday in Healdsburg but was moved to Lakeport on Wednesday because the Greyhounds’ field is currently unplayable.
“All in all a great first game,” Clear Lake coach Doug Wingler said of the debut of his mostly green 2017 club.
Of the Cardinals’ nine starters on Wednesday, only one — shortstop Madi Ferguson — was starting at the same position she played last year when a veteran Clear Lake squad posted a 19-6 overall record and won the North Central League I title with a 13-1 mark. There are a few holdovers from that team, including team captain and senior center fielder Shyanne Chapin and junior catcher Regina Faalelea.
“We do have a lot of team speed and run the bases pretty well,” Wingler said.
Hill, who worked the first four innings for the victory in the five-inning game, and freshman reliever Shaelyn McIntire combined on a three-hitter and walked only one while striking out four.
“She threw the ball over the plate and threw strikes,” Wingler said of Hill. “We made them put the ball into play and our defense had a good game, only one error.”
Healdsburg tied the game at 1 with a run in the top of the second inning, but the rest of the day belonged to Clear Lake (1-0). The Cardinals snapped the tie with a two-run bottom of the second, added two more runs in the third and then broke the game wide open with a 15-run fourth that was fueled by walks and hit batsmen. Healdsburg pitching issued a total of nine walks while hitting six.
The Cardinals not only batted around in the bottom of the fourth, but they batted around twice, sending 20 batters to the plate before the third out was recorded.
Chapin (2-for-4, double, RBI) and Sara Ogden (2-for-2, double, RBI) were the only Cardinals with more than one hit. Lila Ogden (1-for-1) drove in two runs.
Clear Lake is home again today to play El Molino at 3:30 p.m. On Saturday the Cardinals travel to Santa Rosa to compete in a three-team scrimmage at Montgomery High School.
