Clear Lake softball awaits word on playoff berth, will find out Sunday<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lake County Sports on Facebook<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LAKEPORT >> Winning their final four league games and going 5-2 over a grueling seven-game stretch the final two weeks of the season, the Clear Lake Cardinals now await the decision of the North Coast Section at-large and seeding meeting to see if they\u2019ll be participating in next week\u2019s playoffs, which open Tuesday or Wednesday depending on division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clear Lake capped a 7-7 North Central League I campaign Friday afternoon with an 18-4 win in five innings against the Lower Lake Trojans, who finished the season streaking in the other direction. The Cardinals were the only Lake County softball team to finish with a winning overall record this season \u2013 11-8 \u2013 despite some tough stretches along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe did what we could do, we did what we wanted to,\u201d Clear Lake head coach Scott Schaefers said of the team\u2019s bid to become postseason eligible. \u201cOur girls persevered throughout, tried to get a little bit better each game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the Cardinals persevered, the Trojans (6-8, 8-13-1) imploded. Once 6-3 and looking at a winning league campaign and what seemed at the time as a second straight playoff berth in the making, Lower Lake dropped its final five games, the last four without ace Marian Bal, who quit the team two weeks ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Trojans couldn\u2019t recover and lost their final four games by 10 or more runs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt died and it died quick,\u201d Lower Lake co-head coach Julie Jackson said of the Trojans\u2019 season and postseason aspirations. \u201cFor the girls who stuck it out and were good teammates, that\u2019s all that I can ask.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Added Jackson of the inglorious end to a once promising season, \u201cIt was a big bar to clear after Mariah quit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Forced to promote Crystal Pepper from the junior varsity squad, the Trojans struggled the rest of the way though Jackson made it clear it wasn\u2019t Pepper\u2019s fault. She was put into a situation she shouldn\u2019t have had to assume, but circumstances dictated the move, according to Jackson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe wants to work, she\u2019s competitive and if she puts in the work in the fall and the winter, she definitely can be a pitcher who can do the job,\u201d Jackson said of the sophomore, who walked six, hit five and allowed 11 runs (10 earned) in 3 1\/3 innings. \u201cShe had her moments when I could see the potential.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clear Lake had a 4-3 lead going to the bottom of the third inning when it blew the game wide open with a 10-run rally. The Cardinals went up 1-0 in the bottom of the first on Karsyn Greer\u2019s home run to left field. They added three runs in the second before Lower Lake answered with three runs in the top of the third against winning pitcher Atiana Patino, who struck out eight and walked one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lindee Bingham went 2-for-2 with two RBIs for Clear Lake, Cali Albaum (1-for-2) finished with three RBIs while Greer (1-for-2), Hailey Perez (1-for-3) and Emily Gersalia (0-for-0) all added two RBIs. Ashlynn Cruz and Faith McIntire also had hits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leanna Ortega went 2-for-3 with two RBIs for Lower Lake while Grace Reyes (1-for-3) doubled. Jamiya Lee-Ayers and Brialyn Anderson also had hits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TEAM NOTES:<\/strong> Clear Lake and Kelseyville, which is also playoff eligible, finished tied for third place in the final NCL I standings at 7-7 followed by Lower Lake in a disappointing fifth \u2026 Lower Lake hasn\u2019t had a winning record in league play since 2019 (10-4). After going 7-7 in league and 14-9 a year ago, the Trojans were looking for bigger and better things this season, but it never materialized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Clear Lake softball awaits word on playoff berth, will find out Sunday Lake County Sports on Facebook LAKEPORT >> Winning their final four league games and going 5-2 over a grueling seven-game stretch the final two weeks of the season, the Clear Lake Cardinals now await the decision of the North Coast Section at-large and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,24,18,89],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3351"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3351"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3352,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3351\/revisions\/3352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briansumptersports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}