MIDDLETOWN >> In a battle of first-year softball coaches, Middletown’s Bob Gunion collected season win and career win No. 1 on Tuesday afternoon as the Mustangs rode the pitching and hitting of Makali Brown to a 10-0 six-inning victory over the Upper Lake Cougars in non-league action at Middletown.
Brown’s complete-game effort was a welcome sight for Gunion and the Mustangs (1-3), who lost in lopsided fashion in each of their first three games of the season.
“She was basically more consistent in this game,” Gunion said of Brown, who allowed five hits while striking out five and walking one two.
It was likely Brown’s final start of the year as Savannah McLaughlin, who has been ineligible for the first month of the season, returns Friday to face Fort Bragg in the North Central League I opener for both teams.
“She (Brown) wanted to come out on a good note and she did,” Gunion said.
Middletown held just a 1-0 lead going to the bottom of the fourth. The Mustangs scored four times in the inning and they added three more runs in the fifth and two in the sixth, at which point the game ended because of the 10-run mercy rule.
Upper Lake pitchers Julia Mooney and Katlyn Minnis struggled with their control, walking a total of 14 Middletown batters. Mooney took the loss after working the first four-plus innings.
“We struggled more in this game than we have in any other,” Upper Lake coach Nick Williamson said. “We didn’t play very well.”
While Brown’s pitching went a long way toward securing the team’s first victory this year, so did her hitting. She went 2-for-4 with a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double. Devin Clark added a hit and a RBI.
Middletown snapped a three-game losing streak while Upper Lake (1-4) lost its fourth straight. The Cougars’ five hits were spread out among Cheyanne Obedoza, Adriana Saldana, Bailey Young, Christina Wilson and Rebecca Harper.
Upper Lake hosts Geyserville in a non-league Friday and travels to Lakeport on Saturday to complete a suspended game with Clear Lake. After completion of the suspended game, the two teams will play a regulation game.
In other softball action Tuesday:
Clear Lake 12, Willits 1
At Willits, it was a bookend type of game for the Clear Lake Cardinals, who scored seven times in the top of the first inning and five times in the sixth to beat the Willits Wolverines in the North Central League I opener for both teams.
The game was called after six innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
Shaelyn McIntire had a 7-0 lead before throwing her first pitch, more than enough offense to secure her the victory. She allowed three hits, an earned run in the fourth inning, struck out 10 and walked only two.
“She’s doing a good job,” Clear Lake coach Doug Wingler said of his sophomore. “She threw the ball over the plate and we’re making plays behind her. If she keeps throwing strikeouts and walks in those numbers, we’re going to be all right.”
Clear Lake (1-0 league, 3-0 overall) sent 11 batters to the plate in the first inning.
“They had a new pitcher out there and we got a lot of walks (four bases on balls and three hit batsmen),” Wingler said.
The Wolverines did make a pitching change and the difference in velocity between the two pitchers bothered the timing of Clear Lake’s hitters in the middle innings, according to Wingler. The Cardinals solved that problem in the top of the sixth when they scored their final five runs, two of them on a pinch-hit double by Brooklyn Jenkins to deep center field.
“That kind of broke it open,” Wingler said. “That ball landed only a few feet in front of the fence.”
Sydney Lawler went 2-for-4 with a RBI for the Cardinals and Regina Faalelea went 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.
The Cardinals return home Thursday to host Cloverdale at 4 p.m.
“It’s nice to get two wins under our belts going into that game,” Wingler said of the Clear Lake’s back-to-back victories over Healdsburg and Willits on Monday and Tuesday. “We’ll have a good snapshot of where we are after we play Cloverdale.”
