Lady Cougars finish league play 6-0

Upper Lake High School's six seniors celebrate a second straight North Central League II softball championship Thursday after beating Calistoga 15-3 in five innings at Upper Lake. Playing their final regular-season home game were (from left) Tristin Rhodes, Maddy Young, Nathaly Velasco, Paris Klier, Karla Martin and Maddy Hayenga. The seniors were honored during a postgame ceremony that ended with the presentation of the 2023 championship banner. (Photo by Brian Sumpter) — Upper Lake High School’s six seniors celebrate a second straight North Central League II softball championship Thursday after beating Calistoga 15-3 in five innings at Upper Lake. Playing their final regular-season home game were (from left) Tristin Rhodes, Maddy Young, Nathaly Velasco, Paris Klier, Karla Martin and Maddy Hayenga. The seniors were honored during a postgame ceremony that ended with the presentation of the 2023 championship banner. (Photo by Brian Sumpter)

By Brian Sumpter | Lake County Record Bee

UPDATED: May 12, 2023 at 10:26 AM PDT

The throw home arrived in plenty of time but Calistoga's catcher dropped the ball for an error as Nya Marcks bears down on the plate. Marcks tripled to deep center field and scored on the play. (Photos by Brian Sumpter)

UPPER LAKE — Celebrating a second straight North Central League II softball championship in style, this year as the undisputed winners, the Upper Lake Cougars rolled past the Calistoga Wildcats 15-3 in five innings Thursday afternoon at Upper Lake.

Upper Lake (6-0 league, 8-2 overall) returns to action either Tuesday or Wednesday in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division V playoffs. The field will be released Sunday.

Nya Marcks pitched a complete-game two-hitter and struck out 11 in Upper Lake's 15-3 five-inning victory over the Calistoga Wildcats on Thursday afternoon in Upper Lake. The junior struck out the side three times. (Photos by Brian Sumpter)

“We did our job, now we’ll see how far we can go,” Upper Lake first-year head coach Heather Wurm said following another dominant performance by the Cougars against a league opponent.

Upper Lake shared the league title with Credo a year ago as the two teams split their two meetings, but the Cougars swept Credo, their only real competition, twice this season.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Wurm said with an eye toward a Division 5 playoff field that will include such teams as NCL I champion St. Helena (20-4), Cloverdale (14-5), Clear Lake (12-9), Head-Royce (12-3) of Oakland and Credo (7-7-1).

“Hopefully we can stay focused and go as far as we can,” Wurm said.

Upper Lake dropped a 8-2 decision to Clear Lake in the quarterfinals a year ago in Lakeport.

Upper Lake's Maddy Young checks the location of the ball after pulling into second base with a double in the bottom of the first inning. Young's extra-base hit knocked in the Cougars' first run of the game. (Photos by Brian Sumpter)

Against Calistoga on Thursday, the Wildcats were overwhelmed by the velocity of Upper Lake junior pitcher Nya Marcks, who allowed just two hits, struck out 11 — including the side three times — and walked none. The only exception was Calistoga’s No. 3 hitter, Kassandra Duarte (2-for-2), who had both of the Wildcats’ hits, including a triple to deep center field with two outs and the bases empty in the top of the first. Duarte continued home on an error to give her team a shortlived 1-0 lead.

It was pretty much all Upper Lake after that.

The Cougars pushed in front to stay with four runs in the bottom of the inning, and they added two runs in both the second and third for a 8-1 lead. Playing a version of small ball, the Wildcats scored their final two runs in the top of the fourth. Upper Lake then put the game out of reach with seven runs in the bottom half. Marcks struck out the side in the fifth, at which point the game ended because of the 10-run mercy rule.

Upper Lake's Tristin Rhodes was out at the plate in the bottom of the second inning trying to score from first base on teammate Ashlyn Wurm's double. The Calistoga catcher throws down to third base in an attempt to nail Wurm, who advanced on the throw home. (Photos by Brian Sumpter)

“We got what we needed from them,” Wurm said of the Wildcats. “I want to say thank your to the Calistoga coach for giving us a good game and for playing the small ball they did. That will be good practice for us going into the playoffs. I know Clear Lake plays small ball. Now we know what to expect.”

While Upper Lake had only seven hits, four of them did go for extra bases — RBI triples by Marcks and Nathaly Velasco and RBI doubles by Ashlyn Wurm and Maddy Young. Upper Lake’s ability to advance baserunners at will either through stolen bases or courtesy of Calistoga wild pitches and passed balls was a huge factor in the game as were the six errors committed by the Wildcats. Aimee Schaefers (2-for-3, two RBIs) was the only Cougar with more than one hit.