Mason City 15
Clear Lake 2
The Clear Lake Lion girls hosted the Mason City Riverhawks on Tuesday, June 11 where the Lions dropped to 8-3 on the season after a 15-2 loss after four innings.
The Riverhawks got an early start with four runs in the first inning but the Lions didn’t lay down.
Getting up to bat, the Clear Lake girls were led off by a Jezzie Thompson single before Alivia Paine made good contact with Riverhawk pitcher Adyson Evans’ throw for a two-run home run out of centerfield, which would be the only runs for the Lions on the night.
The Riverhawks put four more runs on the board in the second to lead the Lions 8-2.
A monster inning in the fourth saw the Riverhawks score seven more runs to go up 15-2. The Lions were unable to stay in the game after not scoring any runs in the bottom of the fourth and the game was called.
“This was obviously not our best game,” said Lion head coach Seth Thompson. “Probably largely on me as a coach for not giving Jezzie a day off after throwing a lot of pitches the night before against Algona. To their credit, Mason City hit the ball very well, especially the top-half of their order and we just weren’t as sharp pitching the ball and playing defense as we needed to be. Alivia Paine had a big home run in the first inning to help us get back in the game, but unfortunately, we just couldn’t get outs defensively in some key spots.”
St. Edmond 13
Clear Lake 3
The Lions dropped a conference match up to the #5 St. Edmond Gaels on Thursday, June 12 after giving up 13 runs.
The Gaels started out strong with three runs in the bottom of the first but Clear Lake bounced back to tie in the top of the second.
The tie didn’t last long as St. Edmond hit back with two more runs and from then on the Gaels scored a couple of runs between the third and fourth before a six-run fifth inning made it a 10-point game and the Gaels walked off with a win, dropping the Lions to 8-4 on the year.
The Lions mustered three runs off nine hits that included two runs from Taylor Bedford and one run from Alaina Hartl.
Bedford led the team in hits with three, while Madi Ott had one RBI and Camryn Allsbrook had two RBI.
Jezzie Thompson was back in the circle for the Lions allowing 13 runs off 14 hits with one strike out.
The conference loss puts the Lions at 5-2 on the season in the North Central Conference behind St. Edmond in first (6-0, 12-5) and Webster City (7-0, 10-5).
“St. Eds is one of the best teams in the state and has won our conference the last two years, and although the final score doesn’t show it, we competed well throughout the game and offensively I thought we had a lot of hits against a very good pitcher,” said coach Thompson. “We missed a few opportunities throughout the game to get off the field defensively without giving up some runs and need to do a better job of executing on the defensive end.”
Charles City 13
Clear Lake 1
The Lions continued the slide with a third loss in a row, this time on the road to the Charles City Comets (14-1).
Clear Lake struck first with a lone run in the first inning but Charles City answered back quick with a two-run inning.
The Lions couldn’t round the bases the rest of the game as the Comets bats got going with another four runs in the bottom of the second.
The next two innings saw seven runs by the Comets to put the Lions at 8-5 after a tough week.
The Lions recorded three hits converting one to a run with one RBI which came off an Alivia Paine solo home run, her third of the season.
Taylor Schwenn and Madi Ott had the teams other two hits.
Thompson pitched 3.2 innings resulting in 13 runs off nine hits and one strike out.
“Unfortunately, this game can be a game of streaks and unfortunately, we caught one of the better teams we play all year on the road when we find ourselves having a tough time getting outs,” said coach Thompson. “With such a young team, stretches like this happen and our challenge next week is to bounce back and start rattling off some wins. These girls came out Friday morning with a lot of energy in our practice after a tough three game stretch and I am excited to see what they can do next week with some key conference games and two tough non-conference opponents.”
