FORT BRAGG — Sierra Bruch’s two-out, two-run single in the top of the seventh inning snapped a 3-3 tie as the Clear Lake Cardinals beat Fort Bragg ace Cassiti Baroni and the defending North Central League I champion-Timberwolves 6-4 in softball action Tuesday afternoon in a very windy Fort Bragg.
Bouncing back from a 8-6 loss to Middletown last week in Middletown, the Cardinals (4-2 league, 7-4 overall) scored three times in the top of the seventh. Bruch scored the third run of the inning on a steal of home. The Cardinals then survived a scary bottom of the seventh. Fort Bragg scored a run and had the potential tying runs on second and third with two outs when the game ended on a flyball to center field.
Winning pitcher Atiana Patino threw a complete-game five-hitter, striking out five and walking three. Only one of the runs she allowed was earned. Baroni struck out 13 and walked five while allowing four earned runs. The Timberwolves did not play well behind her, committing six errors to compared to only three for the Cardinals.
“Everyone is happy about the win,” Clear Lake head coach Scott Schaefers said. “There was a lot of pacing back and forth.”
Assistant coach Marci Psalmonds praised the play of her freshmen battery of Patino and catcher Karsyn Greer and the Clear Lake defense, especially the outfielders.
“It was really windy over there and they did a great job,” she said.
Clear Lake got to Baroni for three runs in the top of the first. Fort Bragg (3-2, 4-4) pulled even with a run in the bottom of the first and two more in the third.
Bruch finished the game 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs while Camrin Pivniska went 2-for-4. Montana Wells went 1-for-3 with a RBI.
Clear Lake faces another tough customer Friday when it hosts undefeated league leader St. Helena (5-0). Fort Bragg visits Cloverdale (4-1) on Friday.
In other softball action Tuesday:
Kelseyville 19, Willits 8 (5 inn.)
At Willits, Bri Davis went 3-for-3, Debbie Pasalo went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs, and winning pitcher Jayden Paulich helped her own cause with two hits and three RBIs as the Kelseyville Knights beat the Willits Wovlerines in five innings.
The Knights (2-3, 4-6) scored in every inning, including a six-run top of the second to open up a 10-3 lead.
“That was a huge inning for us,” Kelseyville head coach Julie Jackson said as the Knights snapped a three-game losing streak.
The Knights took a 12-3 lead into the bottom of the third when the Wolverines scored their final five runs to close to 12-8. Kelseyville came right back with two runs in the top of the fourth before adding five more in the fifth.
“We kept our foot on the gas,” Jackson said. “We just kept scoring.”
Freshman Mati Mateer moved behind the plate and caught the entire game with the Knights’ two catchers out of action with injuries.
“She was impressive,” Jackson said of Mateer, who also went 1-for-4 with two RBIs. “She caught all three of our pitchers. She kept her head and did a great job.”
Paulich pitched the first three innings before giving way to relievers Morgan Rogers and Mya Ogo. Paulich struck out four and walked two. Rogers and Ogo each worked an inning, striking out one and walking one.
The Knights return home Friday to play Lower Lake (1-5, 2-5) at 4 p.m.
St. Helena 10, Lower Lake 0 (6 inn.)
At St. Helena, shut out for the second game in a row, the Lower Lake Trojans fell to the league-leading and undefeated St. Helena Saints (5-0, 10-4) in six innings.
St. Helena finished the game with 14 hits, most of those coming against losing pitcher Keeley Parks, who worked a total of five innings in two separate stints. The Saints took a 7-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth before scoring their final three runs, at which point the game ended because of the 10-run mercy rule.
Winning pitcher Tahlia Smith worked the first three innings for the victory, striking out five and walking two. Aribella Farrell finished up, striking out five and walking one.
“It’s highly frustrating and highly disappointing,” Lower Lake head coach Tara Downey said of Lower Lake’s second consecutive shutout loss.
Lower Lake had back-to-back scoring opportunities in the third and fourth, but ended up stranding five runners between those two innings.
St. Helena’s statistics had Smith and Farrell giving up a combined six hits to the Trojans, but Downey said singles by Aliana Barnes and Rebecca Theodorou were the only two Lower Lake hits she had marked down.
The Saints didn’t commit an error on their artificial turf homefield.
Lower Lake, a loser of three straight, hits the road Friday to play Kelseyville at 4 p.m.
Cloverdale 22, Middletown 2 (5 inn.)
At Cloverdale, Cloverdale opened a four-run bottom of the first inning with four straight hits, three of them doubles, while setting the tone for their five-inning rout of the Middletown Mustangs (2-4, 3-4), who had their two-game winning streak decisively snapped by the Eagles (4-1, 8-2).
Cloverdale broke the game wide open with a 10-run bottom of the second inning before adding four more runs in the third and another four in the fourth.
Middletown scored on a RBI groundout by Carina Fleenor in the top of the second to cut Cloverdale’s lead to 4-1, but the Eagles put the game away in the bottom of the inning, sending 11 batters the plate against losing pitcher Shaylyn Sims, who allowed 14 runs and 10 hits in two innings. Reliever Brooklyn Wood didn’t fare much better over the final two innings, allowing eight runs on six hits.
Cloverdale finished with 16 hits, including six doubles, and eight different Eagles had hits. Leadoff hitter Tylie Hatcher, the Eagles’ shortstop, led the way by going 4-for-4 with with a double, two RBIs and three runs scored. Camie Donahoo, who bats behind Hatcher, went 2-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored. She also had a double.
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Middletown hit the ball hard against winning pitcher Charlotte Burchett and finished with five hits, including doubles by Jaidyn Brown (1-for-1) and Pailey Shook (1-for-3), who smacked one to the fence in left field in the top of the fourth. The Mustangs went on to load the bases but couldn’t score.
The Mustangs picked up their final run with two outs in the top of the fifth on a Cloverdale throwing error, the only error committed by the Eagles.
Middletown finished with five errors but also made a handful of nice plays, two of them by third baseman Breanna Pyzer, one each in the second and third innings. In the second, Pyzer gloved a hard grounder headed down the line, wheeled around and made a strong throw to first baseman Melanie Gerst to record the out. Shortstop Brown also did her part, including running down a popup in shallow left field in the bottom of the first. Although she collided with left fielder Cadence Henry, Brown held onto the ball for the out.
Henry, Gerst and Cora Holley had Middletown’s other hits.
Middletown was scheduled to host Willits on Friday, but that game has been moved to April 26. The Mustangs return to action next Tuesday at home against Kelseyville. Cloverdale hosts Fort Bragg (3-2) on Friday.
