CL girls finish regular season with a win

(Above) Clear Lake third baseman Bella Parker lends some backup to catcher Kaylee Nosbisch during Tuesday’s game against Newman Catholic. -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

The Clear Lake Lions headed into the July 4 holiday with a bang, finishing up the regular season with a win.  The victory turned the tide on the three losses heading into the regular season finale last week.   The Lions finished the regular season 13-13 overall and 6-8 overall in North Central Conference.  The Lions won their division of the conference, going 4-2 overall.

Clear Lake will host their first round post-season game tonight (Wednesday, July 5) against Garner-Hayfield-Ventura.  Game time is 7 p.m. at Lion’s Field.

Webster City 4, CL 3

Clear Lake lost a heart breaker at Webster City on Monday, June 26.  The Lions started off slow, giving up three runs in the first inning, all of which were unearned.  The Lions buckled down from there, but could not get the bats really going until seventh inning.

Macy Mixdorf smacked a double to score two runs in the seventh, and with the tying run at third base and just one out, the Lions could not find the hit to score the tying run and fell, 4-3.

Julia Merfeld and Rachel Barillas each went two-for-four at the plate. Bella Parker also had a double in the game.  Mixdorf picked up two RBIs in the game with her hits.  Chloe Mueller also brought in a run with a hit.

Kiersten Baalson pitched a complete game, giving up four runs on seven hits.  None of the runs was earned. She struck out six and walked one.

“The first inning hurt us.  We have to come out ready to play and make the routine plays so we can put ourselves in a position to win,” said Coach Austin Peterson.

Newman Catholic 9, CL 0

The Lions bats continued to struggle and some costly errors resulted in a loss at home against Newman Catholic on Tuesday, June 27. Newman scored two runs in the first, one in the third, three in the fifth and three in the seventh on their way to a 9-0 victory.

“We just seemed to be out of it tonight.  We were real quiet,” said Coach Austin Peterson after the loss.  “We can’t let our hitting dictate our defense.

Clear Lake collected just six hits off of Newman ace Jillian Dunn.  Dunn struck out six.

Pitcher Kiersten Baalson gave up 10 hits on the night.  She struck out four and walked only one.

The Lions gave up nine runs, four of which were earned.   

Julia Merfeld, Chloe Mueller, Sara Faber, Rachel Barillas, Kayla Ritter and Bella Parker each had a hit in the ballgame.

Bishop Garrigan 13, CL 6

The Lions faced another tough opponent on the road Thursday, June 29, as they travelled to Algona to face Bishop Garrigan.

The Lions started off slow, giving up three runs in the first and two runs in the second inning.  Clear Lake rallied in the fourth inning to cut the lead to 5-4, but a six run inning by Bishop Garrigan in the bottom of the fourth propelled the Golden Bears.  The Lions would never cut the lead again and fell, 13-6.

Julia Merfeld had a good night at the plate, going three-