KELSEYVILLE >> The way Lower Lake High School softball head coach Chris Emberson sees it, Kelseyville senior shortstop Riley Goff is the most valuable player in the league.
“I would vote for her right now,” Emberson said after the Knights beat the Lower Lake Trojans 7-4 in North Central League I action on Tuesday afternoon in Kelseyville.
The win keeps Kelseyville undefeated atop the NCL I standings at 7-0 and improves the team’s overall record to 10-2.
Goff certainly had her fingerprints all over Kelseyville’s victory, according to Emberson. “She had that big hit in the sixth inning. On defense she’s a vacuum cleaner out there. She took two or three hits away from us. She makes plays no other shortstop in the league can make. She played like an MVP today.”
The two teams were locked in a 3-3 tie going to the bottom of the sixth when Goff (2-for-4) delivered the key blow, a bases-loaded two-run double to right-center field. Bib Hamner (2-for-4) followed with a run-scoring single.
Kelseyville coach Jeff Bour said the Knights came up with a handful of big hits in the sixth inning after stranding seven runners in the first three innings against the Trojans (4-2, 10-5).
“We left a lot of runners on base,” Bour said.
Maddie West’s RBI single put Kelseyville ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning. Lower Lake surged ahead in the top of the third on the strength of Mikelynn Rowe’s two-run home run to right-center field and Jolean Scarborough’s solo shot to left field two batters later.
Hamner’s leadoff home run in the top of the third, a blast to straightaway center field, cut the Lower Lake lead to 3-2. The Knights pulled even with an unearned run in the fourth, that set up by a Lower Lake dropped fly ball in center field.
Even though there wasn’t much of a breeze during the game, the ball seemed to be carrying once up in the air.
“The wind was blowing in and I thought it was going to take a pretty good poke to hit one out of here today,” Bour said.
Kelseyville’s Taylor Paulich just missed a home run in the bottom of the second when she backed up Lower Lake left fielder Katrina Rinoldi to the fence, where she made the catch.
Lower Lake scored its final run in the seventh and had the potential tying run at the plate in the person of cleanup hitter Destiny Apodaca, who grounded out to winning pitcher Allison Bryant to end the game.
Bryant struck out three and walked two.
“She’s learning how to pitch a game and she’s doing a wonderful job,” Bour said of his freshman.
“They have to make plays behind her and they do,” Emberson said with a tip of the cap to the Kelseyville defense, which committed only one error.
Losing pitcher Shelby Sapeta, also a freshman, struggled with her control at times and ended up hitting four and walking two.
“You can’t give up six free bases in a first-place type of game,” Emberson said. “She lost a little command in the sixth but she wasn’t really that sharp earlier in the game.”
Marnae Johnson went 3-for-3 for the Trojans while Scarborough finished 2-for-3.
Kelseyville hits the road on Friday to play Clear Lake (4-4) at 4 p.m. Lower Lake’s next two games are both against Middletown (1-5). The Trojans travel to Middletown on Thursday at 4 p.m. and host the Mustangs on Saturday at 11 a.m.
In other softball action Tuesday:
Willits 5, Clear Lake 4
At Lakeport, the Willits Wolverines scored twice in the top of the sixth inning to erase a 4-3 deficit and beat the Clear Lake Cardinals.
“We didn’t show up ready to play and got beat,” Clear Lake coach Doug Wingler said. “Kortnie (Reynolds) pitched pretty well but we got beat in pretty much every other facet of the game. We booted balls and didn’t get hits when we need to.”
Clear Lake (4-4, 8-8) committed five errors behind Reynolds, who allowed only four hits, struck out seven and walked only one.
Shyanne Chapin went 3-for-4 for the Cardinals and Lila Ogden went 2-for-3.
“It’s one of the better Willits teams I’ve seen,” Wingler said.
Clear Lake hosts undefeated Kelseyville (8-0) on Friday at 4 p.m.
Cloverdale 11, Middletown 1
At Middletown, winning pitcher Tehya Bird scattered four hits, struck out 14 and walked none as the Cloverdale Eagles beat the Middletown Mustangs to remain a game back of Kelseyville in the league standings.
Bird also went 4-for-4 with a walk against Middletown (1-5, 3-10).
Brittney Holt singled home Middletown’s lone run, that in the bottom of the sixth. She also had a double against Bird. Devin Clark and Kendall Mildenberger had the only other Mustang hits.
Cloverdale (6-1) scored four times in the top of the seventh to put the game well out of reach.
“I thought we had played a pretty good game up to that point,” Midldetown coach Barry Glosser said.
Glosser had nothing but praise for Cloverdale’s freshman pitcher.
“She was definitely dominant. She had the rise ball working good and a fastball below the knees that gave us problems,” Glosser said.
Middletown hosts Lower Lake (4-2) on Thursday at 4 p.m. before hitting the road on Saturday to play Lower Lake at 11 a.m.
