KELSEYVILLE >> Freshman Malia Brown picked the perfect time to collect her first hit of the season as the Kelseyville Knights scored three times in the bottom of the seventh to rally past the Middletown Mustangs 5-4 in North Central League I softball action on Friday afternoon in Kelseyville.
Brown’s two-out bloop single into right field scored Tymeka Brown with the tying run. Bailey Couey followed with a but single that advanced Brown to third base, then Maddie West lined a single into left field to end the game.
“Middletown played a really good game,” a relieved Kelseyville coach Jeff Bour said as the Knights (11-1 league, 14-3 overall) escaped with a victory that keeps them tied with Cloverdale (11-1) atop the league standings.
But that tie won’t last long … Tuesday to be exact. The Knights, 4-2 winners over Cloverdale in their first meeting on April 21 in Kelseyville, travel to Cloverdale on Tuesday.
“I could taste it, that’s how close we were,” Middletown coach Barry Glosser said the Mustangs’ upset bid. “They played their best game of the season.”
Five of Kelseyville’s eight hits came in the bottom of the seventh and only one – West’s game-winning single – was hit with any real force.
“They had three seeing-eye hits,” Glosser said. “The last one was hit really well.”
Grace Davidson started the Kelseyville rally with a one-out single and stole second. She scored on a Tymeka Green single to cut Middletown’s lead to 4-3, and Green (2-for-3) ended up on third as the play slowly unfolded. Kailani Brown, Malia’s older sister, had a chance to tie the game but popped up to first base for the second out. Malia followed with her game-tying hit before Couey and West completed the comeback with their hits.
“The girls played a fantastic game,” Glosser said. “I told told them not to hang their heads. We made no errors, we made all the plays on defense.”
Middletown (2-10, 4-15) held a 4-1 lead early in the game. Kelseyville’s only run in the early innings was a home run by Bib Hamner to straightaway center field in the bottom of the second, her team-leading seventh homer of the season.
Winning pitcher Allison Bryant finished with a three-hitter, struck out four and walked four. Losing pitcher Olivia Glosser also went the distance, striking out four and walking one.
Sydney Frank went 1-for-3 with two RBIs for Middletown.
In other softball action Friday:
Lower Lake 18, St. Helena 1 (5 inn.)
At Lower Lake, Adrianna Illia doubled home three runs in the bottom of the second inning and singled home two more runs in the third inning as the Lower Lake Trojans (9-3, 15-6) made quick work of the St. Helena Saints in a five-inning NCL I game.
Illia’s bases-clearing double in the second was a one-hopper to the fence. In a game that featured only seven hits by the Trojans, she had two of them. Lower Lake also benefited from eight walks issued by St. Helena pitching and four Saints errors.
“You’d like to play a more competitive game at this time of year, but this is a pretty focused group,” Lower Lake coach Chris Emberson of the Trojans. “This is probably one of the more focused teams I’ve had as far as the task at hand.”
Destiny Apodaca and Kayla Sanderson each had a hit and a RBI for the Trojans, who close out their home schedule Tuesday against Willits at 4 p.m.
Clear Lake 9, Fort Bragg 8
At Lakeport, a five-run fourth inning turned out to be the difference as the Clear Lake Cardinals held off the Fort Bragg Timberwolves in a NCL I thriller.
Clear Lake (6-7, 11-11) exited the fourth with a 9-5 lead. Fort Bragg promptly made it a one-run game with a three-run fifth.
The Timberwolves had a chance to send the game into extra innings with runners at first and third with one out in the top of the seventh, but winning pitcher Kortnie Reynolds retired the final two batters she faced on a strikeout and a popup that she gloved herself.
“The last few days we’ve figured out how to close out games,” Clear Lake coach Doug Wingler said. “It’s a good time of year to be doing that.”
Clear Lake beat St. Vincent 3-2 in eight innings in a non-league contest a day earlier at Lakeport.
Shyanne Chapin, playing in her final regular-season home game, went 3-for-4 with a double to spark Clear Lake’s 13-hit attack. Regina Faalelea, the hero in Thursday’s win with her walk-off double, doubled twice and knocked in two runs on Friday. Sara Ogden also had two hits and two RBIs.
Reynolds struck out eight and walked two while giving up 10 hits.
Tech 21, Upper Lake 0
At Upper Lake, the Technology Titans scored eight times in the top of the first inning en route to a five-inning rout of the Upper Lake Cougars in NCL II action.
Upper Lake (2-4, 6-12) was shut out on only five hits, two of them off the bat of Adrianna Saldana, who singled and doubled in two official at-bats. Mallory Henry, Cheyanne Obedoza and losing pitcher Julia Mooney all had singles.
Mooney pitched all five innings, striking out two and walking 14.
