HEALDSBURG — The Kelseyville Knights are a long way from where head coach Julie Jackson wants them to be, but her young softball squad took its first step Tuesday afternoon in a season-opening 16-11 non-league loss to the Healdsburg Greyhounds at Healdsburg.
“The first inning is what really killed us,” Jackson said of the five runs the Greyhounds (1-3) scored in the bottom half when Kelseyville pitcher Jayden Paulich had trouble locating the strike zone. “She walked five and they all scored,” Jackson added.
Paulich settled down after that and walked only two more the rest of the way as she notched a complete game, including three strikeouts.
“She got better as the game went on,” Jackson said.
Though Paulich did a good job making the Greyhounds put the ball into play after the first inning, a Kelseyville defense that had a handful of starters playing out of position had a rough go of it, committing several physical and even more mental errors.
“And we didn’t hit the ball as well as we could have early on,” Jackson said. “I think we went through the lineup once before we started hitting it.”
Kelseyville (0-1) ended up with 12 hits and fought its way out of a 8-2 hole after three innings, closing to 8-7 with a five-run top of the fourth. Healdsburg answered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth and six more in the fifth to go up 16-7. To their credit, the Knights fought to the last out, pushing across four runs in the top of the seventh to make it interesting.
“What I like is we kept fighting,” Jackson said. “We never settled, never looked defeated.”
Lilly Wiser, Cali Schnabl and Jessica Amendola had two hits apiece for the Knights and Taylor Hanson (1-for-3) drove in two runs.
“All in all we’re young, but we’ve got a good work ethic,” Jackson said. “It’s good to see where we’re at.”
Kelseyville hosts Upper Lake on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
In other softball action Tuesday:
Fort Bragg 12, Upper Lake 2
At Fort Bragg, Cassiti Baroni’s changeup kept Upper Lake’s bats in check as the Fort Bragg Timberwolves prevailed in a game called after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
“They’re a pretty good team and have a pretty good left-handed pitcher,” Upper Lake head coach Nick Williamson said of the junior Baroni. “She has a nice changeup. I was impressed.”
Barolni left after three innings with a a 7-2 lead. Fort Bragg added four more runs in the fourth and the game ended when the Timberwolves scored with two outs in the fifth to go up by 10.
Upper Lake (1-2) finished with only three hits, including a double by Nya Marcks. Ruby Wurm and Lexi Wurm added singles.
Fort Bragg (3-0) scored three times in the bottom of the first against losing pitcher Karlee Zimmerschied to open up a 3-0 lead. Upper Lake got as close as 4-2 in the top of the third before the Timberwolves added three more runs in the bottom half to go up 7-2.
While it was a rough day for Upper Lake’s defense on the windy Mendocino County coast, first baseman Paris Klier turned an unassisted double play in the third when she gloved a line drive and doubled off the runner at first.
“She had all three outs in the inning,” Williamson said.
Upper Lake opens play in the Maxwell Tournament on Thursday with two games, the first against Pierce High School of Arbuckle at 11:30 a.m.
