MIDDLETOWN — Emma Hansen was dealing on Thursday while pitching the Middletown High School softball team to a 9-3 victory over the El Molino Lions in non-league softball action at Middletown.
Hansen notched her first complete game and was bidding for her first shutout until El Molino (0-3) broke through with three runs in the top of the seventh. She allowed just three hits and one earned run, struck out seven and walked four.
“The team was really proud of her,” Middletown head coach Bob Gunion said. “She’s getting stronger each game we play.”
Harper Moreno went 4-for-4 with two doubles and a three-run home run to spark a 14-hit Middletown attack. She drove in four runs overall. Her blast over the fence in left-center field fence in the bottom of the sixth made it 9-0.
“It left the yard,” Gunion said.
Middletown snapped a scoreless tie with three runs in the bottom of the third. A three-run fifth made it 6-0.
Sisters Makaili and Jaidyn Brown also had a good day at the plate. Makaili went 2-for-4 with a double and Jaidyn went 2-for-3 with a double, triple and two RBIs. Other leaders were Lily Martin (2-for-4, 2 RBIs) and Maddie Ferguson (2-for-4).
In other non-league softball action Friday:
Upper Lake 17, Potter Valley 4 (5 inn.)
At Potter Valley, Angel O’Sullivan pitched a complete game and shut out the Potter Valley Bearcats over the final four innings as the Upper Lake Cougars improved to 2-3 on the season.
The game was called after five innings because of the 10-run rule.
“Angel only walked three and didn’t put a lot of extra runners on base,” Upper Lake head coach Nick Williamson said.
Both teams scored four runs in the first inning, but it was all Upper Lake after that. The Cougars exploded for eight runs in the top of the second and never looked back. They scored at least one run in every inning.
“We had a fairly good day at the plate and a good day on defense after the first inning,” Williamson said.
Nathaly Velasco went 3-for-4, doubled twice and drove in two runs for the Cougars, who pounded out 14 hits in all. O’Sullivan helped her own cause by going 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Mallory Henry went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.
Upper Lake returns to action Friday in Willits at 4 p.m.
