LOWER LAKE — Shelby Sapeta was back on the mound and in complete control on Tuesday as the Lower Lake Trojans shut out the Middletown Mustangs 10-0 in a North Central League I softball game that was stopped after five innings because of the 10-run rule.
Sapeta missed each of her last two starts with a sore groin but showed no ill effects on Tuesday as she blanked Middletown (0-3 league, 3-7 overall) on three hits. Lower Lake (2-0, 5-4) racked up seven hits, led by Xelin Fred-Mota, who went 3-for-3 with a double and three RBIs. She also scored twice.
“She looked good, but she also looked healthy and that’s the biggest thing for me,” Lower Lake coach Dave Milano said of Sapeta. “It’s a bonus that she pitched real well.”
“She did well,” Middletown coach Bob Gunion said of Sapeta, who struck out eight and walked two. The three hits she allowed were all singles.
With Sapeta putting zeroes on Middletown’s side of the scoreboard, Lower Lake scored the only run she would need in the bottom of the first inning. In fact, the Trojans pushed three runs across the plate in each of the first two innings to go up 6-0. They added four more runs in the fourth for good measure.
“We played a much better game than we did against Kelseyville,” Milano said of the Trojans’ 17-12 league opening win last week over Kelseyville, an eight-inning game that saw Lower Lake score four times in the bottom of the seventh on a Fred-Mota grand slam to force extra innings.
“The girls are in good spirits,” Milano said of Lower Lake’s 2-0 league start. “We’re excited about the direction we’re heading.”
Lily Griffin went 1-for-3 and drove in three runs for the Trojans while Kayla Doud went 1-for-2 with two RBIs.
Middletown’s only hits went to Maddie Ferguson, Shaylin Liebig and Makaili Brown.
“We’ve got to keep fighting to improve,” Gunion said after the Mustangs’ third straight loss.
Both teams are scheduled to hit the road on Friday although rain is in the forecast. Middletown travels to league-leading and undefeated Cloverdale (4-0, 10-0) while Lower Lake visits St. Helena.
In other softball action Tuesday:
Willits 15, Kelseyville 8
At Kelseyville, it’s not often you spot a team a 12-0 lead and still win, and the Kelseyville Knights couldn’t quite pull off the comeback against the Willits Wolverines although they gave it a pretty good try.
Kelseyville (0-3, 2-4) trailed 12-0 after two innings, rallied briefly but couldn’t catch Willits (1-2, 3-3), which registered its first league win of the season.
“We’re young, we’re going to make mistakes and we’re trying to put it together in time for the second half,” Kelseyville coach Jeff Bour said. “Every team in this league has gotten better. There are no walkovers … there are a lot of good teams out there.”
Willits pounded out 14 hits — all singles — and did a good job finding the holes in the Kelseyville defense, which helped out the Wolverines by making seven errors. The Wolverines pushed nine runs across the plate in the top of the first inning and added three more in the second.
Kelseyville finally broke through with four runs in the fourth, including a two-run home run off the bat of junior shortstop Paige Bour, her second of the season. Bour had a great day at the plate as she also doubled twice, picking up a third RBI in the process. Maddy Barker went 2-for-3 for the Knights and Kassandra Villalobos added a double.
Losing pitcher Mikayla Guistolise went the distance, striking out three and walking four.
Kelseyville is scheduled to host Clear Lake on Friday at 4 p.m. although there is a high probability of rain in the forecast.
