HEALDSBURG — Three days after picking up its first win of the season, the Lower Lake High School softball team has its first winning streak.
Led by first baseman Rebecca Theodorou, who went 4-for-4 with a triple, the Trojans broke open a 9-8 game with a seven-run top of the sixth, going on to beat the Healdsburg Greyhounds 19-8 in non-league action on a windy and cold Monday afternoon in Healdsburg.
The Trojans (2-2) can extend that winning streak Thursday when they resume their North Central League I schedule at Middletown, a game that was rescheduled from Tuesday. They return home Friday to play defending league champion Fort Bragg.
“It was a long game,” Lower Lake head coach Tara Downey said after the Trojans drew 14 walks against Healdsburg pitching.
Not that they didn’t help themselves at the plate. Theodorou, a junior, was so much of a pain in Healdsburg’s side that she was intentionally walked at one point. She scored three times as did teammates Keeley Parks and Shaye Tubbs. Parks, the winning pitcher, struck out 10 and walked only two while helping herself at the plate with four hits.
“We finally got those preseason jitters out of our system,” Downey said. “One we got to the sixth, we started pounding the ball.”
Lower Lake built a 9-3 lead, including a five-run top of the fourth, only to watch Healdsburg (0-5) close the gap to 9-8 with a five-run fifth.
“They started creeping up on us,” Downey said.
Lower Lake put the game out of reach with its seven-run sixth and the Trojans added three insurance runs in the seventh for good measure.
While Theodorou and Parks had a big day at the plate, Brialyn Anderson added three hits and scored twice while Norma Tremble and Aliana Barnes had two hits apiece. The Trojans finished with three extra-base hits — triples by Theodorou and Barnes and a double by Tremble.
While Downey said she enjoyed her team’s production at the plate, she was even more impressed with the play of the Trojans’ defense.
“The defense is solid,” Downey said.
