A challenging week on the diamond

[caption id="attachment_11154" align="alignleft" width="270"] Ethan McHenry avoids the tag and slides safely into second. The Lion junior has been a regular on the basepaths in recent games.-Reporter photo by Chris Barragy.[/caption]

Pair of losses drop Lions to No. 5 in 2A

Losses to Webster City and Mason City last week dropped the Lions from second to fifth in Class 2A ratings released Monday.  The Lions are 14-6 overall and 6-1 in North Central Conference play, tied with Hampton-Dumont.

CL 2, H-D 1

The Lions battled back in the sixth inning to record an important win over Hampton-Dumont Monday, June 15.  The Lions scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth, then shut H-D down in the seventh for a 2-1 victory.

“This was a huge win for us in the race for the NCC conference title.  Hampton has been playing some really good baseball and played well tonight.  It was encouraging to see our guys battle back to get the lead,” said Coach Seth Thompson.

The Lions got their lead-off batter, Cooper Merrill on base to start the sixth, then moved him to second with a base hit to centerfield by Parker Truesdell.  Brock Adams loaded the bases with a bunt single.  After Mitch Keeran hit into a fielder’s choice, Ethan McHenry used a bunt single to score Merrill.  Ben Mason’s sacrifice fly to center allowed Truesdell to tag and score the winning run.

“The two biggest hits we had that inning were off of bunts, which was great to see as a coach because we have worked hard to get better at that part of the game and tonight our ability to get those bunts down was the difference in the game,” said Coach Thompson.

The hits by Truesdell, Adams and McHenry were the only Lion hits in the game.

Adams was outstanding on the mound, allowing only two hits and no earned runs.  He struck out seven and walked two in seven innings of action.

Webster City 7, CL 3

Webster City handed Clear Lake their first conference loss Tuesday, 7-3.

The Lynx pounded out 12 hits against Brandon Tofte and Ben Mason, while their pitcher, senior Daniel Halko struck out 10, walked six and allowed only four hits.

Webster City jumped out to a 4-1 lead after the first inning and added another run in the third.  Ethan McHenry muscled a two-run homer for the Lions in the fifth, only to have the Lynx answer with two more runs in the bottom of the frame.

“We let our guard down tonight and to Webster City’s credit they were there to land some punches and just flat out played a better game than we did,” said Coach Thompson.  “Their pitcher was outstanding – I don’t recall any pitcher striking out 10 of our batters in a long, long time and when you give the other team 10 outs without putting the ball in play you don’t usually have a very good chance to win.  Tonight did not turn out as many had expected, but for some reason at Webster City we have come to expect the unexpected.”

Rowdy Yates had two hits for the Lions.  Adams and McHenry were the only others to reach base on hits.

Tofte took the loss.  He struck out two, walked one and gave up five runs, four of them earned, on six hits.  Mason was also touched for six hits.  He struck out three and walked one.

CL 12, St. Ed’s 2 (5)

The Lions responded to their first conference loss with a resounding win Thursday, June 17, over St. Ed’s.  Clear Lake topped the Gaels, 12-2, in five innings.

The Lions got five extra base hits from four different batters, led by Ben Mason with two doubles and four hits, along with an RBI.  Rowdy Yates had three runs batted in and Mitch Keeran knocked in a pair of runs.

Merrill had two hits and scored three wins.  Matt Stephany had two hits and two RBIs.

Ethan McHenry picked up the win.  The Gaels had seven hits and McHenry struck out one.

“These kids have shown the ability to bounce back from disappointing games all season and this was a very nice all-around game by our batters, pitchers, and defense,” said Coach Thompson.  “Winning at Fort Dodge is not an easy task, so when you can walk away with a five-inning, 10-run victory you know you did some things right.”

CL 4, Forest City 2

Clear Lake scored single runs in the first, third, fifth and sixth innings to lift them to a 4-2 win over Forest City Thursday in non-conference action.

Ethan McHenry continued to swing a hot bat.  The junior had two hits and three runs batted in to lead the Lions.

Cooper Merrill picked up the win, striking out seven and allowing only three hits and two walks.

“Cooper was outstanding on the mound tonight, only allowing two hits, and our offense, although unspectacular, just kept pecking away inning by inning to get a big win against a good Forest City team that will be a team we could have to face during District play,” said Coach Thompson.  “This was a well-played game by both sides and a nice win to get.”

Merrill and Adams also had two hits. Keeran, Mason, Yates and Truesdell smacked singles, with Truesdell’s scoring a run.

Mason City 1, CL 0

The Lions couldn’t get any offense going against a tough Mason City squad Friday night.

“If you had told me before the game Ben (Mason) only gives up one run, I would have liked our chances to walk away with a win, but unfortunately we couldn’t get anything going offensively,” said Coach Thompson.  “We are just going through a stretch where the balls we hit always seem to be at people and defenses are making great plays, and when you play over 30 games you are going to see stretches like that.  We had to endure 2 teams celebrating wins against us this week like they had just won a State championship, so hopefully these kids find ways to avoid giving many more teams this year that satisfaction.”

The Lions managed just three hits. McHenry had two and Keeran provided one.  The Mohawks had seven hits in the win.