FORT BRAGG — It started out well enough for the Clear Lake Cardinals, but the loss of starting pitcher Lilianna Cruz was too much to overcome as they fell 11-3 to undefeated North Central League I leader Fort Bragg 11-3 on Tuesday afternoon in Fort Bragg.
The Timberwolves improved to 12-0 in league play while eliminating Clear Lake (10-3 league, 14-7 overall) from the title race. Fort Bragg’s final two games are against St. Helena (10-1) during a Friday doubleheader in Fort Bragg. The Saints’ game Tuesday at home against Middletown was rained out and the two teams will try again Wednesday.
Clear Lake scored single runs in the first two innings against winning pitcher Cassiti Baroni to open up a 2-0 lead. Cruz was in the process of taking her warmup pitches prior to the bottom of the second when she rolled her ankle.
“It was gonna be a good game,” Clear Lake head coach Scott Schaefers said. “I had my back turned and didn’t see her go down.”
With Cruz out of the game, Raina Clifton moved from second base to pitcher, right fielder Grace Gomez replaced Clifton at second, and Quincy Paarsch came off the Clear Lake bench to play right field. Fort Bragg immediately rallied, taking advantage of two costly errors by the Cardinals to push seven runs across the plate.
Clear Lake picked up its final run in the top of the third but couldn’t any closer than 7-3 as Baroni, who struck out 11 and walked none, blanked the Cardinals the rest of the way. Fort Bragg added a run in the bottom of the third, two in the fourth and a final run in the sixth to pad its lead.
Clifton will also draw the start Wednesday when the Cardinals wrap up their league and regular-season schedule at home against Willits at 4 p.m.
“Raina is a valuable backup (at pitcher),” Schaefers said. “She does a good job.”
How long Cruz will be sidelined is a question Schaefers doesn’t have the answer to right now.
“No idea,” he said. “We’ll just have to see.”
Clear Lake is headed to the North Coast Section Division 5 playoffs next week as an at-large team and the Cardinals will learn on Sunday where they’ve been seeded in the field and who and where they are playing in the first round (either May 17 or May 18).
Sierra Bruch went 2-for-3 for the Cardinals, who finished with seven hits to Fort Bragg’s 11. Hailee Bussard’s RBI double in the top of the first gave Clear Lake the early lead. Clifton, Paarsch, Camrin Pivniska and Stella Hill had the Cardinals’ other hits.
Clifton, who took the loss, allowed all 11 Fort Bragg runs (five earned) on eight hits with five strikeouts and four walks. Cruz allowed one hit and struck out two in her only inning of work.
