Clear Lake rallies with two runs in seventh to win back-and-forth softball battle
By Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
LAKEPORT >> Clear Lake High School’s seniors didn’t wait for a postgame ceremony to begin their senior day celebration.
One of five seniors honored immediately following the Cardinals’ final home game of the regular season Thursday in Lakeport, Lindee Bingham singled sharply into right field with one out to score pinch-runner Anjoli Scott with the winning run, capping a two-run bottom of the seventh as Clear Lak walked off the field with a 9-8 victory over the Lower Lake Trojans in a North Central League I softball thriller.
“What a great way to finish senior night,” Clear Lake head coach Scott Schaefers said of the walk-off victory. “Lindee was all smiles after that.”
While the senior Bingham capped a back-and-forth battle between the two teams, it was another senior, Faith McIntire, who got the ball rolling in the seventh. With Crystal Pepper working her fourth inning in relief of starter Madelyn Garner, McIntire fouled off several two-strike pitches, finally working the count full before drawing a walk.
“That was key,” Schaefers said.
McIntire moved up to second base on a wild pitch and scored on Cali Albaum’s single into center field, tying the score at 8-8. Scott replaced Albaum on the bases at that point. She advanced to second base before Ashlynn Cruz (2-for-4, double), who had already driven in three runs, went down on strikes, Pepper’s eighth of the game. Another wild pitch sent Scott to third base, but not for long. Bingham promptly drove the ball into right field as Scott raced home. The Clear Lake dugout emptied as the victory celebration got under way.
“It’s tough to lose, but I’ll take this team any day,” Lower Lake head coach Julie Jackson said. “They just don’t quit.”
“They’ve improved so much,” Schaefers said of the Trojans, who dropped a 13-5 decision to Clear Lake earlier this season at Lower Lake.
“A year ago when we came here it wasn’t pretty,” Jackson said of an 18-4 loss to the Cardinals on the final day of the 2025 regular season in Lakeport. “Today it was a great softball game. I couldn’t have asked for better energy from the girls.”
“It was a good one to solidify our place in the (NCL I) standings,” Schaefers said of the walk-off win. The Cardinals are a virtual lock to clinch third place behind St. Helena and Cloverdale.
In a game where the lead changed hands a few times, what started out to be a slugfest settled down briefly before both teams caught fire again at the plate.
Lower Lake scored three unearned runs after two were out and the bases empty in the top of the first inning. A fielding error kept the inning alive for Eden Sparks, who singled in front of Jamiya Lee-Ayers’ first home run of the season, a blast well over the fence in left field.
Clear Lake came right back to tie the game at 3-3 in the bottom half. A two-out RBI double to deep left field by McIntire got the Cardinals on the board before Albaum blooped a single into right field to score McIntire. Cruz followed with a double into left to bring home Albaum.
Leanna Ortega’s RBI groundout in the top of the second and a run-scoring error gave the Trojans a 5-3 lead, and that’s where the score remained until the fifth inning.
Pepper struck out the side in the fourth, her first inning of work. She allowed a leadoff single to Amelie Davis in the fifth before striking out winning pitcher Atiana Patino. Carson Greer bounced a routine grounder to third base but the throw to first was wild and ricocheted into shallow right field. Davis scored and Greer ended up at third base. Pepper walked the next two Cardinals to load the bases, and Cruz singled home two runs to give Clear Lake a 6-5 lead.
To Pepper’s credit, she worked out of what could have been a much bigger inning by retiring the next two Cardinals on an infield popup and strikeout.
Again, the Trojans didn’t waste any time answering in the top of the sixth. Ortega’s RBI groundout and RBI singles by Marlene Jack and Sparks put Lower Lake back on top at 8-6. The Trojans almost had another run, but a runner’s interference call ended the inning.
Clear Lake closed to 8-7 in the bottom of the sixth when Davis clobbered a one-out home run well over the center field fence. It was a county-best sixth home run of the season for Davis, who already holds the county’s record for most single-season homers by a freshman.
After the Trojans failed to score in the top of the seventh, the Cardinals rallied in the bottom half.
Patino, who got a few pitching tips from Clear Lake alum and Sierra College ace Liliana Cruz, who was hanging out near the Clear Lake dugout, allowed only three earned runs while striking out eight and walking none. Pepper struck out eight and walked three.
Davis, McIntire and Cruz had two hits apiece for the Cardinals. Sparks, also a freshman, went 2-for-4 for Lower Lake and made a run-saving stop in the bottom of the third, diving to glove a grounder headed up the middle. She flipped the ball to second base for inning-ending forceout. Sparks just missed a home run her next time up, banging the ball off the fence just to the left of the foul pole.
Doubles by Clear Lake’s Cruz and McIntire also came close to leaving the field.
The Cardinals wrap up their league and regular-season schedule Tuesday in Middletown. Lower Lake hosts Cloverdale on Tuesday before finishing up in Upper Lake on Thursday.
