Lions top Cardinals, 11-1

(Above) Clear Lake’s Sara Faber has her eye on the prize as she gets ready to head home from third base.  GHV’s Abby Kale is the third baseman for the Cardinals.

The Clear Lake girls came ready to play on Tuesday, June 20, when they hosted Garner-Hayfield-Ventura.  The Cardinals couldn’t match the Lion intensity as they fell, 11-1.

Clear Lake got on the board in the first inning, when Sara Faber smacked a double that drove in Julia Merfeld.

The Lions scored four runs in the second inning.  Chloe Mueller singled to center field and scored Kayla Ritter.  Mueller scored on a pop fly by Macy Mixdorf.  Michaela Niles hit a ground ball that allowed Faber and Mixdorf to score, giving the Lions an early 5-0 lead.

GHV’s lone run came when Trinity Smith smacked a double, allowing Nicole Upmeyer to cross home plate.

The Lions went on to score two runs in each of the next three innings to gain the win.

“We played really well,” said Clear Lake Coach Austin Peterson.  “It is nice to see us playing complete games.”

Kiersten Baalson earned the win for the Lions.  She pitched five innings, surrendering one run, three hits and striking out seven.

Maddie Graham handled pitching duties for the Cardinals.  She gave up 10 runs, 13 hits and didn’t strike out any batters.

“I thought our girls played well, we just had one bad inning defensively,” said GHV Coach Matt Graham.  “Maddie pitched well in the circle for her first ever varsity start as an eighth grader.  The top four of Clear Lake’s lineup are as good as any in North Iowa.  It is hard to keep them off the bases.”

Merfeld led the Lions at the plate with

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three hits and two RBIs.  Mueller also had a good night with two hits and three RBIs.  Faber had two hits, one being a double, and she had one RBI.  Mixdorf had two hits and one RBI.

Smith, Bailee Pitzenberger and Upmeyer each collected one hit for GHV.

Ritter led the Lions with two stolen bases.  Faber, Merfeld, Mixdorf and Bella Parker all had one stolen base apiece.

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