KELSEYVILLE — Down to their last out and trailing 10-6 in the top of the seventh inning, the Lower Lake Trojans had the Kelseyville Knights right where they wanted them on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon in Kelseyville.
Xelin Fred-Mota, hitting third in the Lower Lake batting order, drilled the first pitch she saw from Mikayla Guistolise over the left-center field fence for a game-tying grand slam that paved the way for a 17-12 eight-inning victory over the Knights in the North Central League I opener for both teams.
“It was dead center over the plate,” Kelseyville coach Jeff Bour said of the fastball Guistolise tried to slip past Fred-Mota. “And she hit it dead center.”
“That was a no-doubter,” according to Lower Lake coach Dave Milano, who said one of his players, Mikelynn Rowe, had been robbed of a two-run home run earlier in the game by Kelseyville left-fielder Makayla Boardman.
According to Milano, Fred-Mota was the ideal player to come to the plate in that situation.
“She’s really smart and doesn’t go out of the strike zone often,” Milano said. “She’s one of those players you don’t have to give a take sign to. After she hit it, she told me, ‘I didn’t think it was gone,’ but she railed it. It had that sound.”
Kelseyville (0-1 league, 2-2 overall) missed a chance to break the 10-10 tie in the bottom of the seventh but instead left the bases loaded.
Lower Lake (1-1, 4-4) broke the game wide open in the top of the eighth, pushing seven runs across the plate for a 17-10 lead. Kelseyville picked up two runs in the bottom of the inning.
“It was hard to watch,” Bour said of the 14 runs the Trojans scored over the final three innings.
Lower Lake struck for three runs in the top of the sixth to push in front 6-4 only to watch Kelseyville answer with six runs in the bottom of the inning for a 10-6 lead.
“In that last inning, they (Trojans) had some great hits,” Bour said. “They deserved to win it.”
One swing of the bat completely changed the mood on both sides of the diamond, according to Milano, who said he was unhappy with the Trojans’ effort up to the point Fred-Mota wiped the slate clean.
“We hadn’t played a very good game,” Milano said. “There was miscommunication and a lot of silly plays.”
In fact, Milano nearly pulled his leadoff hitter in the top of the seventh when she missed a take sign and swung away at the first pitch.
“We need four runs, we needed runners,” said Milano, who decided to let her complete the at-bat, which resulted in a double and eventually led to Fred-Mota coming to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs.
“That’s the thing about sports,” Milano said. “It’s one of those little things you’ll never forget.”
The Trojans finished with 18 hits to Kelseyville’s 16. Fred-Mota ended up going 3-for-5 with six RBIs, Marnae Johnson went 3-for-4 and scored five times while Lily Griffin went 3-for-5 with a double.
Myranda Williams went 4-for-5 with a RBI for the Knights. Paige Bour added three hits and three RBIs while Skye Mateer went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Kassandra Villalobos and Makayla Boardman added two hits and two RBIs apiece.
Both pitchers went the distance. Jessica Hernandez struck out six and walked for Lower Lake while Guistolise struck out four and walked six for Kelseyville.
Lower Lake is home against Fort Bragg while Kelseyville visits Cloverdale on Friday as league play continues.
In other softball action Tuesday:
Clear Lake 7, Middletown 1
At Lakeport, winning pitcher Shaelyn McIntire scattered four hits and struck out five while pitching the Clear Lake Cardinals past the Middletown Mustangs in NCL I action.
It was the league opener for Middletown (0-1, 3-5) and the Mustangs hit just one ball out of the infield against McIntire, a RBI single by Emma Hansen in the top of the second inning that briefly tied the game at 1-1.
Clear Lake (1-1, 6-4) pushed in front to stay with a four-run bottom of the second that featured RBI hits by freshman Raina Clifton (2-for-3), who singled in a run, and Sydney Lawler, who doubled home another. The Cardinals added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
Losing pitcher Savannah McLaughlin went the distance for Middletown, striking out two and walking none.
“Savannah pitched a really good game,” Middletown coach Bob Gunion said. “If we would have minimized our errors, it would have been a closer game.”
Middletown’s scorebook had the Mustangs committing five errors while Clear Lake’s book had eight for the visitors.
“It was a competitive game,” Gunion said. “We let our guard down and made errors at the wrong time.”
Madi Ferguson (Clear Lake) and Maddie Ferguson (Middletown) each had a hit in the game.
Clear Lake is scheduled to host Upper Lake in a non-league game on Thursday, weather permitting, before resuming league action Friday at home against Willits. Both games start at 4 p.m. Middletown is home Friday to play St. Helena in a league game.
