Mariah Bal fans 16 in loss to Montgomery; Patino has both Clear Lake hits against Ukiah
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SANTA ROSA >> Mariah Bal struck out 16 batters while scattering five hits, but the Montgomery Vikings rallied with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to snap a 2-2 tie and beat the Lower Lake Trojans 3-2 in non-league softball action Wednesday afternoon in Santa Rosa.
“We had some errors on defense,” Lower Lake head coach Tara Downey said. “We need to tighten up. It was a hard loss being so close.”
Lower Lake (1-1) scored twice in the top of the fourth to tie the game after Montgomery (2-4) plated single runs in the second and third inning to take a 2-0 lead.
Bal allowed two earned runs and also walked four. She also had one of the Trojans’ six hits, going 1-for-3 and scoring a run.
Grace Reyes (2-for-3) was the only Lower Lake player with more than one hit. Aliana Barnes went 1-for-3 and drove in both of the Trojans’ runs. Leanna Ortega and Jamiya Lee-Ayers had Lower Lake’s other hits.
“It was good to get the jitters out early,” Downey said of her team’s early-season miscues. “We have some work to do.”
Lower Lake goes under the light Saturday against Fortuna in St. Helena. First pitch is 7 p.m.
In other Wednesday softball action:
Ukiah 13, Clear Lake 2 (5 inn.)
At Ukiah, the Clear Lake Cardinals officially opened their season, falling to the same Ukiah Wildcats team they scrimmaged against last week.
Clear Lake (0-1) avoided the shutout by scoring twice in the top of the fifth, but it wasn’t enough to avoid being 10-runned by the Wildcats (1-0), who were also making their season debut.
The Cardinals committed five errors in the field that prolonged both Ukiah’s five-run third inning and seven-run fourth.
“Things like a flyball popping out of an outfielder’s glove,” Clear Lake head coach Scott Schaefers said. “We’re still a young, growing team. We are junior and freshmen heavy. We’ll get better as we go along.”
Losing pitcher Atiana Patino worked all four innings, allowing 12 hits, striking out four and walking four. The junior also had Clear Lake’ only two hits at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a run-scoring triple.
“I was proud of the job she did,” Schaefers said of Patino. “When you have five errors behind you, it’s tough.”
Schaefers said it was a much-improved Ukiah team from the one the Cardinals beat 4-1, also at Ukiah, early last season.
“They were much better than we played them in the past, but we aren’t the same team we were last season,” Schaefers added.
The Cardinals return home Friday to play Calistoga at 3:30 p.m.