LOWER LAKE — It seems like there’s never a dull moment for the Middletown High School softball team and head coach Bob Gunion this season.
After a series of tough non-league losses during which the Mustangs gave up big leads, Middletown turned the tables and rallied for a 12-11 win over the Lower Lake Trojans in the North Central League I opener for both teams Friday in Lower Lake.
“It was nice to reverse it,” Gunion said of his team’s early-season penchant for giving up the lead. “We came back instead of having a team come back against us.”
In a game that featured a couple of big momentum swings, Middletown (1-0 league, 2-5 overall) carried an 8-4 lead into the bottom of the third. Lower Lake (0-1, 1-2) came roaring back to go up 11-8 with a run in the third, two in the fourth and four in the fifth.
Middletown, with plenty of help from a Lower Lake defense that committed eight errors, rallied to tie the game with three runs in the top of the sixth.
“The story of the game for us was eight errors, which is unacceptable,” Lower Lake assistant coach Jeremy Mock said. “We need to clean up the errors.”
In the top of the seventh, Middletown junior catcher Jaidyn Brown stroked her third leadoff triple of the game to put the go-ahead run in immediate scoring position and she scored moments later on a passed ball. An inning earlier, winning pitcher Emma Hansen contributed a key double as the Mustangs pulled even.
Brown also tripled leading off the game to spark a four-run Middletown inning although Lower Lake came right back with four runs in the bottom half to tie it. Brown tripled again leading off the second as the Mustangs scored twice to go up 6-4.
“She’s got some wheels on her,” Gunion said of Brown, who has five triples in her last two games and eight through Middletown’s first seven games.
Middletown scored two more runs in the third against losing pitcher Jessica Hernandez, who definitely deserved a better fate, to push its lead to 8-4. Hernandez struck out 12 in going the distance for the Trojans (0-1, 1-2) and walked only one.
“She’s getting better every single game,” Mock said. “She’s just a competitor.”
Another Lower Lake highlight was Rebecca Theodorou’s home run to center field leading off the bottom of the fifth, the first of four runs for the Trojans in the inning as they rallied to go in front 11-8.
Middletown’s come-from-behind win was impressive on another front as the Mustangs were minus four starters.
“It was nice to see the depth on the team come out,” Gunion said.
Carina Fleenor went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs and Melanie Gerst went 3-for-4 with a RBI for Middletown, joining Brown with three hits. Harper Moreno went 2-for-3 with a RBI and scored twice.
“I’m really proud of them for turning the corner,” Gunion said. “We were more intense, more focused and we never gave up.”
Jenna White went 3-for-4 with three RBIs for the Trojans, who finished with 12 hits to Middletown’s 14. Theodorou, Sam Edrich and Kyleigh Mock added two hits apiece. Theodorou finished with two RBIs.
Middletown stays on the road Tuesday to play Cloverdale while Lower Lake remains home to take on St. Helena. Both games start at 4 p.m.
In other Friday action:
Cloverdale 11, Kelseyville 0
At Kelseyville, the Cloverdale Eagles beat the Kelseyville Knights in the league opener for both teams, which was called after six innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
Kelseyville (0-1, 0-7) had just one hit, a clean third-inning single by Audrey Pasalo to right field.
“We battled at the plate, we fouled off a lot of pitches off,” Kelseyville head coach Julie Jackson said.
The Knights also drew four walks but couldn’t mount much of a threat against Cloverdale’s pitcher.
“She’s decent, she throws well,” Jackson said.
Kelseyville’s six errors led directly to four Cloverdale runs.
Losing pitcher Jayden Paulich threw a complete game, striking out one and walking three, and Jackson said both Paulich and catcher Ari Fossa turned in solid efforts.
“Ari Fossa has been working really, really hard,” Jackson said. “They (Paulich and Fossa) work well together.”
Though the Knights haven’t cracked the win column yet this season, Jackson said her young squad is making progress that isn’t reflected in the final score of their league opener.
“Give us a few weeks and I think we’ll be up there,” she said.
Kelseyville plays Clear Lake on Tuesday in Lakeport at 4 p.m.
Upper Lake 8, St. Bernard’s 6
At Eureka, playing under a strict time-limit rule in the opening round of the St. Bernard’s Tournament, the Upper Lake Cougars scored three times in the top of the sixth to wipe out a 6-5 St. Bernard’s lead and were looking for more with the bases loaded and two outs when the game was called because of the time rule, according to Upper Lake head coach Nick Williamson.
Upper Lake (5-4) plays two more games Saturday as the tournament wraps up. First up for the Cougars is Del Norte of Crescent City at 10:40 a.m.
Tristin Rhodes’ RBI double tied the game at 6-6 in the top of the sixth and winning pitcher Lexi Wurm followed with a RBI single to put the Cougars ahead 7-6. Upper Lake added another run before the game was called.
“They stepped up,” Williamson said of his players. “We had some rough patches, but they kept stepping up and coming back.”
Rhodes (2-for-3) also tripled in the win and she finished with two RBIs. Paris Klier went 2-for-3 and Zoey Petrie went 1-for-3 with a RBI.
Upper Lake scored twice in the top of the fifth to snap a 3-3 tie, but St. Bernard’s pushed in front with a three-run bottom of the fifth before the Cougars rallied in the sixth.
“We had a lot of good hustle,” Williamson said.
Wurm pitched a complete game, allowing six hits, striking out six and walking two.
