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Lady Cards keep their season alive – Lake County Record-Bee
LAKEPORT — The Clear Lake Cardinals have advanced to the North Coast Section Division 5 softball semifinals for the second year in a row, now all they have to do is beat a team they’ve already lost to twice in league play.
“Third time’s the charm,” Clear Lake High School head coach Scott Schaefers said after the Cardinals rallied from a 5-4 deficit going to the bottom of the seventh to beat Berean Christian of Walnut Creek 6-5 in eight innings Saturday afternoon during a quarterfinal-round thriller in Lakeport.
Stella Hill reached on a two-base error to open the Clear Lake eighth, that after center fielder’s Sierra Bruch’s defensive gem with two outs in the top of of the eighth, a running catch that saved two runs and ended the inning, kept the score at 5-5. With Hill at second base and no outs, Karsyn Greer fouled off two sacrifice bunt attempts before striking out. Hill then won the game with her legs, stealing third base and coming around to score on the Berean Christian catcher’s overthrow of the bag.
“It was a great team win,” Schaefers said of a handful of players who came through with clutch hits or catches, all wrapped around a complete-game effort by left-hander Lilianna Cruz, who struck out nine and walked four.
“She wasn’t at the top of her game, but she persevered,” Schaefers said of Cruz. “She was a trooper. She did what she had to do.”
So did a handful of other players, among them Hill, who not only scored the winning run, but homered in the fourth inning to give Clear Lake a 4-2 lead at the time. Rubi Ford went 2-for-3 with three runs scored, including the tying run in the seventh when she led off with a slap single to shortstop, stole second and scored on Amber Smart’s RBI double.
Other clutch hits were Montana Wells’ two-run double in the bottom of the third that gave Clear Lake a 3-0 lead, and a Grace Gomez RBI single in the first for the game’s first run.
Berean Christian (6-15), the No. 6 seed, pushed ahead 5-4 with a three-run top of the fifth and it remained 5-4 until No. 3 seed Clear Lake (13-9) pulled even in the seventh.
“We made some silly mistakes early, but we cleaned up our game when it counted,” Schaefers said of the come-from-behind win. “I don’t want to put my heart through that again.”
It was the second eight-inning game between the two teams this season. Berean Christian beat Clear Lake 8-7 in extra innings on March 18 at the Cloverdale Tournament. Speaking of Cloverdale, the Eagles are the Cardinals’ semifinal opponent on Tuesday at 5 p.m. in Cloverdale. They beat Credo 5-1 in their quarterfinal-round home game Friday. Cloverdale defeated Clear Lake 8-1 and 16-1 in North Central League I play this season.
While the NCL I is guaranteed to have at least one team reach the Division 5 championship game next week, it could become an all-NCL I final if No. 1 seed St. Helena beats No. 4 Head-Royce of Oakland in the other semifinal Tuesday night in St. Helena.
Game notes: Clear Lake received hits from seven of its nine starting players. Along with Hill, Smart, Wells, Gomez and Ford, Cruz and Cam Pivniska also had hits … Cruz retired the first two batters she faced in the top of the eighth before issuing back-to-back walks. That rolled over Berean Christian’s lineup and BC’s leadoff hitter pounded a shot into center field that Bruch was able to track down for the final out. “It was a great play,” Schaefers said … For the second year in a row, the Clear Lake Cardinals are the last spring sports athletes standing in Lake County. Both Upper Lake’s softball team and Kelseyville’s baseball team lost their quarterfinal-round games Saturday, and all six Lake County track and field athletes competiting in the Meet of Champions this weekend in Dublin were unable to qualify for next weekend’s state championships. “Hopefully we can keep it going,” Schaefers said.
