UPPER LAKE >> On a Monday afternoon when Upper Lake’s batters weren’t seeing many strikes, Julia Mooney chased one out of the strike zone and didn’t miss.
“I don’t think it was a strike,” Upper Lake softball coach Kelly Coburn said of the pitch Mooney pounded to deep left field for a three-run homer in Upper Lake’s 14-3 non-league victory over the visiting Point Arena Pirates. “It was a little bit outside the strike zone and she hit a line drive. If we would have had a fence it still would have been a home run.”
Mooney’s three-run shot highlighted a nine-run Upper Lake bottom of the second. The Cougars (7-12) led 12-0 through two innings and 14-3 after three complete. The game was called because of the 10-run mercy rule after Point Arena failed to score in the top of the fifth.
Upper Lake batters received 15 walks and had only four hits. Besides Mooney’s home run, Maria Wade doubled and drove in three runs while Adrianna Saldana and Bailey Young added singles. Colleen Doyle didn’t have a hit but still finished with three RBIs.
Along with hitting a home run, Mooney pitched all five innings for the victory, striking out six and walking four.
The Cougars close out their North Central League II and regular-season schedule on the road Tuesday in Petaluma against St. Vincent at 4 p.m.
