LOWER LAKE — Winning pitcher Lilianna Cruz helped her own cause with a three-run home run while battery mate Hailee Bussard barely missed a home run of her own Friday as the Clear Lake Cardinals defeated the Lower Lake Trojans 15-2 in North Central League I softball action at Lower Lake.
The game was stopped after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
“She’s been in a funk,” Clear Lake head coach Scott Schaefers said of Cruz’s recent struggles at the plate. “She hit it high and it just kept going.”
The ball cleared the fence in right-center during an eight-run Clear Lake uprising in the top of the fourth. The Cardinals (3-1 league, 7-2 overall) had a 7-2 lead after two innings.
“It was the worst game for us all season,” Lower Lake assistant coach Jeremy Mock said as the Trojans slipped to 0-5 in the league standings and 1-6 overall. “It’s like we forgot everything we learned. You could tell from the first inning that it wasn’t going to happen for us.”
Cruz had a 5-0 lead to work with before she threw her first pitch. Clear Lake added two more runs in the top of the second before Lower Lake scored twice in the bottom half to make it 7-2.
While Clear Lake amassed 13 hits, including a 3-for-4 day for Bussard, Schaefers said Clear Lake’s pitching and defense were the key Friday just as they’ve been all season for his squad.
“That’s what we’ve been thriving on the whole time,” he said. “Our defense really played well.”
Cruz struck out six and walked two in four innings. Raina Clifton, who went 2-for-3 with a double and RBI along with three runs scored, pitched the fifth. Bussard also had a double that just missed going out, according to Schaefers.
“When she hit it, I thought it was gone,” Schaefers said.
Camrin Pivniska went 2-for-4 with a RBI and scored three times for Clear Lake and Kiley Voris went 2-for-3 with a RBI.
The Cardinals play Eureka in a non-league doubleheader Saturday beginning at noon in Ukiah on the Mendocino College softball field.
Losing pitcher Jessica Hernandez went 3-for-3 for Lower Lake while Nayeli Santana and Rebecca Theodorou had the Trojans’ other hits. Theodorou drove in one of the Trojans’ two second-inning runs.
Lower Lake hits the road Tuesday to play Willits (0-4).
In other softball action Friday:
Middletown 18, Kelseyville 3
At Kelseyville, Shaylynn Sims pitched the Middletown Mustangs to a second straight win, going the distance in a six-inning victory over the Kelseyville Knights.
After working 6 2/3 inning in relief for the victory in an 11-10 win over Willits on Tuesday, Sims drew the start against the Knights and pitched a six-hitter with six strikeouts and only one walk.
Middletown (3-2, 4-6) trailed only briefly as Olivia Hommer’s RBI double in the bottom of the first inning gave Kelseyville (1-4, 1-10) a 1-0 lead. The Mustangs answered with 18 unanswered runs, including an 11-run top of the sixth, before the Knights scored their final two runs in the bottom of the sixth.
“The last two games we’ve had 10 hits, we’re minimizing our errors and our (pitcher) walk totals are coming down,” Middletown head coach Bob Gunion said. “We need that kind of consistency going into our next two games (against undefeated league leaders Fort Bragg and St. Helena).”
Harper Moreno (3-for-5) hit a solo home run in the top of the third for Middletown. Gracie Wagner went 2-for-3 and scored three times while Emma Hansen went 2-for-3 with two RBIs. As much as the Mustangs helped themselves at the plate, Gunion said the Knights’ defense helped them even more
“They had a bunch of errors, a lot of overthrows that led to a lot of our runs,” he said.
“We pick and choose when we want to show up,” a frustrated Kelseyville head coach Julie Jackson said of her young team’s struggles this season, including another late-game meltdown as the Mustangs batted around during their 11-run sixth.
Outside of Hommer’s two hits, Cali Schnabl’s two-run triple in the bottom of the sixth, and a run-saving catch in left field by Jessica Amendola, who also had one of Kelseyville’s five hits, Jackson said highlights were few and far between for the Knights.
“We’re clearly not focused on the things we need to be focused on,” Jackson said. “I see glimpses here and there of the kind of team we can be, but we’re nearly halfway through our season and it’s not enough.”
And it doesn’t get any easier for the Knights on Tuesday when they travel to St. Helena to play the Saints (4-0), the defending league champions.
