FORT BRAGG — Not even a four-run bottom of the seventh could save the Fort Bragg Timberwolves from a 7-6 loss to the Clear Lake Cardinals in North Central League I softball play on Tuesday at Fort Bragg.
Clear Lake (4-2 league, 5-3 overall) is the first team to beat Fort Bragg (5-1) in league play this year although the Timberwolves have yet to meet league-leading St. Helena (6-0), who they face in a doubleheader Friday in St. Helena.
“It got exciting,” Clear Lake head coach Racheal Harmon said of the bottom of the seventh. “My stomach was in knots.”
Staked to a 7-2 lead, Clear Lake pitcher Lilianna Cruz opened the inning by watching one of her outfielders drop a flyball for an error. After the next batter hit a home run to make it 7-4, Harmon visited the mound to check on her freshman left-hander.
“She told me she felt good and I kept her in,” Harmon said.
But after a double and a wild pitch, Harmon brought in reliever Raina Clifton, who recorded the final three outs. Before a comebacker to the mound ended the game with the potential tying run standing at second base, the Timberwolves scored two more runs as the Cardinals committed two more errors, giving them three for the inning.
“It was the fourth time around for the Fort Bragg hitters against her (Cruz) and they had her timing down,” Harmon said of her decision to pull Cruz.
Until the seventh, the Cardinals had things pretty much their own way, according to Harmon.
“The whole game we felt so good, the girls were confident and excited, and our bats were hot from the beginning.”
Clear Lake took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Fort Bragg tied it with two runs in the bottom of the third, but the Cardinals scored the next five runs – two in the fifth, two in the sixth and another in the seventh – to go up 7-2.
Leadoff hitter Joy Ingalls went 3-for-5 with a RBI to continue her incredible season at the plate. Cruz went 2-for-4 with two RBIs to help her own cause, and Hailee Bussard singled and doubled in four at-bats. Sierra Bruch (triple) and Nya Marcks (double) added extra-base hits.
Clear Lake opens the second half of its league schedule with a road doubleheader Friday in Willits beginning at 3 p.m. Clear Lake and Willits were originally scheduled to meet in the league opener for both teams back on April 6 in Lakeport, but the Wolverines were on spring break and could not field a team, forcing a postponement.
