MIDDLETOWN — The Middletown Mustangs picked the wrong time to have a bad day on defense as they committed five costly errors in a 14-2 loss to the Fort Bragg Timberwolves on Friday afternoon in Middletown.
“Our errors really helped them,” Middletown head coach Bob Gunion said of the Timberwolves, who improved to a league-best 5-0.
The errors along with a handful of passed balls and one wild pitch made it an especially tough day for the Mustangs, who fell to 3-3 in league and 4-3 overall.
“The worst game defensively we’ve had all season,” Gunion said.
Middletown’s offense was handcuffed by Fort Bragg pitching to the tune of two hits, singles by losing pitcher Emma Hansen and Maddie Ferguson.
Fort Bragg led 3-1 after one inning and 7-1 after three innings. A seven-run top of the fourth put the game out of reach.
“Every inning it seemed to blow up in our faces a little bit,” Gunion said.
Middletown visits St. Helena on Tuesday before opening the second half of its league schedule next Friday in Lower Lake.
In other softball action Friday:
Lower Lake 4, Willits 0
At Lower Lake, a slowly healing ankle couldn’t stop Jessica Hernandez from throwing a four-hitter and going 3-for-4 at the plate as the Lower Lake Trojans shut out the Willits Wolverines to snap a five-game losing streak.
“A win’s a win,” Lower Lake head coach Brett Doud said.
Lower Lake (2-4 league, 3-5 overall) didn’t exactly rip the cover off the ball against Willits (1-4 league), but the Trojans had some clutch hitting, including sacrifice flyballs off the bats of Kayla Doud and Kylie Hartmann.
Lower Lake’s defense committed only one error behind Hernandez.
“Margarita (Cordova) and Sam (Edrich) made nice plays in the outfield and (Kyleigh) Mock had a great game at shortstop,” Doud said.
Hernandez struck out 11 and walked only two. As her ankle heals from an injury sustained earlier this season, she hasn’t been practicing with the team but only playing on game days.
“She’s at the practices but she still can’t go 100 percent,” Doud said. “In another week she could be back to normal.”
Hernandez, Edrich and Kylie Hartmann (2-for-3) drove in runs for Lower Lake. The Trojans scored the only run Hernandez would need in the bottom of the second. They added two more in the third and picked up their final run in the sixth.
The Trojans visit Kelseyville on Tuesday and return home next Friday to begin the second half of their league schedule against Middletown.
St. Helena 12, K’ville 0 (5 inn.)
At Kelseyville, the St. Helena Saints scored seven runs off walks while beating the Kelseyville Knights in NCL I action. The game was called after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
One bright spot for Kelseyville was the play of junior Emily Sandoval, who went 2-for-2 with a double and also played strong defense in right field.
“That girl shows up ready to play,” Kelseyville head coach Julie Jackson said. “She has a great work ethic and is dialed in. She backs up every play and has a cannon for an arm. Man, that girl can throw.”
MJ Boardman and Kasandra Villalobos also had hits for Kelseyville (0-6 league, 0-7 overall).
St. Helena (5-0) scored three runs in the top of the first inning and four more in the third for a 7-0 lead. The Saints took a 10-0 lead in the fourth before adding two more runs in the fifth. They took advantage of 13 walks in all.
Kelseyville hosts Lower Lake on Tuesday to close out the first half of its league schedule at 4 p.m. Jackson said she hopes to see more Sandoval-like performances from her Knights the final eight games of the season.
“I can’t say enough good things about that girl,” Jackson said. “She leads by example.”
