One win and three losses for Clear Lake girls

(Above) It was a close call at second base when a Mason City player slid into base as Layne Lester was ready to make the play.  Ready to lend a hand was Alivia Paine.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragyby Marianne GasawayLate rallies were costly to the Lions last week, as Algona and Mason City each came back to steal victories.  But the week ended with the Lions returning the rally favor to Hampton-Dumont in an exciting 5-4 game.  Clear Lake is now 3-9 overall and 2-5 in the North Central Conference.Algona 7, CL 6Algona (7-7, 4-4) scored three times in the bottom of the sixth and held off Clear Lake, 7-6, in North Central Conference softball played Monday, July 13, in Algona. The Algona team was on the board quickly in the first inning with two runs scored. The Lions came back and scored one run in the third inning and two in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead, but Algona reclaimed the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fourth, making the score 4-3 in their favor.Two more Lions runs in the sixth put them back on top, but only for a moment.  The Bulldogs plated three runs and were back on top.The Lions didn’t give up and scored one more before being stopped, 7-6.The Lions had six runs on eight hits and committed three errors.  Leading the Lions in hitting was Layne Lester with two hits.  Makella Jacobs, Grace Meyer and Meagan Paine had RBIs.  Autumn Van Horn, Meyer and Paine each smacked doubles in the game.Alivia Hauge and Ashlyn Fread were on the mound for the Lions.  Both threw three innings, allowing six hits.  Combined, they struck out two, walked two and hit three batters. Mason City 7, CL 4On June 14, the Mason City Riverhawks (6-13) came to Clear Lake.  After dropping a 3-0 lead, Mason City scored four runs in the top of the seventh to beat the Lions, 7-4.Mason City jumped out early with three runs being scored in the second inning, but in the fourth,  Makella Jacobs hit a two-run homer to put the Lions on the scoreboard.  Another home run in the fifth, this time by Macey Holck, tied the game at 3-3.The Lions scored one more run in the sixth inning to take the lead 4-3.  As the Lions entered the seventh inning, the Riverhawks put the ball in play and took advantage of three errors to come back and score four more runs and claim the victory.Offensively for the Lions,  Annika Nelson paced the team with two hits.  Jacobs had two RBI’s with her home run shot.  Autumn VanHorn had a double on the night.  Pitching for the Lions was Alivia Hauge, who gave up seven runs on five hits with one strike out on the night.  Ashlyn Fread came into the game to get the last out with a strikeout.  “The girls did a really nice job facing Mason City’s pitcher, she is probably the fastest pitcher we have faced this season and we cut our number of strikeouts way down and took out time and looked to hit good pitches,” said Coach Shelly Zeitler.Charles City 7, CL 3The Lions belted two home runs, but it wasn’t enough as perennial power Charles City (11-5) posted a 7-3 win over the Lions on Thursday, June 16.Makella Jacobs went three-for-three at the plate, with two singles and a home run, and Annika Nelson sent one over the fence for the Lions. Layne Lester and Emily Theiss were the only other Lions to reach base with a hit.Starting the night pitching was Ashlyn Fread.  The senior threw two innings and gave up four runs on six hits with one walk.  Alivia Hauge came in and pitched the last four innings and gave up three runs on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts and one hit batter.CL 5, H-D 4On Friday, June 17, the Hampton-Dumont-CAL Bulldogs (6-8, 2-5) came to Lions Field and scored first in the first inning and another two runs in the third inning for a quick 3-0 lead.  In the third inning the Lions battled back to score three runs to tie the game.  Makella Jacobs broke the tie in the fifth with a run.After a scoreless sixth, the Bulldogs knotted the score again in the top of the seventh.In the bottom of the final frame Annika Nelson and Layne Lester both reached base on errors.  Jacobs flew out and Autumn VanHorn reached on an error.  With bases loaded and one out, Alivia Paine laid down a bunt and Nelson was squeezed in to win the game 5-4.  On the night VanHorn and Paine each had two hits.  Pitching the win for the Lions was Alivia Hauge, who faced 33 batters.  She gave up four runs on eight hits, issued two walks and three strikeouts on the night.