Lily Moran slides into home during the home-opener against New Hampton. – Reporter photo by Chanse Hall
Lion softball opened its season against the New Hampton Chickasaws on Tuesday, May 26 in a game that ended early due to lightning. The Lions won 4-2.
It proved to be a busy, but fruitful, week for the Lions with games every night and a tournament on Saturday at Newman Catholic. The girls have started their season 6-0.
Clear Lake 4
New Hampton 2
The Lions and Chickasaws battled early with getting the ball in play and the visitors scored two runs in the top of the third to get the early momentum, but that’s where they would sit.
The Lions answered with three of their own runs in the bottom of the third, powered by an Alivia Paine RBI and a Chickasaw error. The final run of the night came in the bottom of the fourth for the Lions and just an inning and a half later lightning moved into the area and the game was ended.
Makyla Johnson earned the win in the circle with six strikeouts in six innings and allowed two runs off four hits and walked three.
The Lion fielders were perfect on the night with 24 total chances and 18 putouts with six assists.
The Lions mustered five hits in the win with four runs and were led by Paines single that drove in one run.
Taylor Schwenn, Jezzie Thompson, Makyla Johnson and Jorgia Thompson each had hits in the game. Those four also scored one run each.
“I thought this was a really well-played game for being the first game of the season,” said Lion head coach Seth Thompson. “Makyla pitched great and our defense did not make an error all game and took some hits away from them with some great plays.”
Clear Lake 13
West Fork 5
The Lion softball team had a rough start against the West Fork Warhawks on Wednesday, May 27 after Clear Lake pitcher Jezzie Thompson gave up a grand slam in the first inning.
Her confidence didn’t waver, though, and she returned a three-run homer in her first at-bat to bring the Lions within one.
“It’s super easy to let that get our defense down, but just shrugging it off and moving on to the next pitch,” said Thompson. “Our defense had put up so many plays that game and just taking away that first inning, we really didn’t have any other runs the rest of the game.”
Coach Thompson praised his pitcher and her poise in the circle.
“That’s not an ideal way to start the game. I love the fact that after that inning, that at-bat, I went to talk to her and she was annoyed it happened and wasn’t really phased by it,” said Coach Thompson. “It definitely helps to forget about it if you hit a home run yourself. That’s the best way to help your team forget and she’s been swinging well.”
Clear Lake scored in every frame played, taking the lead after two innings, 6-4.
Things just snowballed from there and after six innings the game was over due to the run rule, eight run spread after five innings.
Thompson had the lone homer for the team to get the bats going. The Lions recorded 12 hits, nine singles and two doubles with 10 RBI.
Scoring runs for the Lions was Jorgia Thompson who had three, Taylor Schwenn with two, Makyla Johnson with two and Finlee Jeppeson, Alivia Paine, Alaina Hartl, Aspen Hill and Hayden Boldt all with one.
The Lions stole six bases on seven attempts.
In the field, Clear Lake was perfect on the night with 18 putouts on 26 total chances and eight assists.
Jezzie Thompson earned the win in the circle pitching six innings and allowing five runs off five hits, walking four and striking out four.
The Lions defeated the Warhawks for the first time in four years.
Clear Lake 17
Charles City 4
Clear Lake traveled to Charles City on May 28 and ended things early with a 17-4
score over the Comets in four innings.
The Lions came out strong with seven runs in the first inning and eight in the second to lead 15-0.
The third inning saw the Comets get on the board with four runs, but Clear Lake tacked on two more runs to seal the game.
Makyla Johnson pitched four innings and gave up four runs on seven hits with a walk and one strikeout.
Behind Johnson, the fielders committed one error but had 12 putouts on 16 total chances with three assists.
At bat, the Lions recorded 17 runs off 17 hits with 13 singles and four doubles.
Boldt recorded one run off three hits with a double and two singles and three RBI to lead the Lions.
Paine had three runs off two hits with two RBI and Jezzie Thompson had two runs off three hits with four RBI.
Jeppeson recorded two runs off two hits along with Aspen Hill and Taylor Bedford, with two runs.
Johnson had one run on the night.
“Each year I have coached, I have tried to encourage the girls to take steps forward as a program in a number of ways and one of those ways is to start beating teams that have beat up on Clear Lake for many years,” said Coach Thompson. “In the case with Charles City, it has been not just years but decades since Clear Lake has beat the Comets. Even though we were short-handed with soccer playoffs happening, it was exciting to not just get a win, but do it in such convincing fashion collecting 18-hits and 17-runs. I told the girls after the game that Clear Lake has been the nail for too long, it is time to grab the hammer and start reversing roles. I would say they did that tonight.”
Clear Lake 10
H-D-CAL 1
Another double-digit score came from the Lions in their first North Central Conference match-up of the season.
The Lions defeated the Hampton-Dumont-CAL 10-1 to improve to 4-0 on the season.
Clear Lake scored four runs out of the gate and added five more to lead 9-0 after two innings.
Both the Bulldogs and Lions had one run each in the third. The game ended after five innings.
Makyla Johnson pitched all five innings and gave up one run on five hits and recorded six strikeouts.
Behind Johnson in the field, the Lions committed three errors and had 15 putouts in 26 total chances and eight assists.
Jorgia Thompson had three runs off one hit and was walked twice.
Jeppeson scored two runs on two hits with two RBI.
Paine, Hill, Schwenn, Johnson and Bedford each had one run for the Lions.
Newman Catholic Tournament
The Lions traveled down the road to Newman Catholic in Mason City for a tournament where they played two games. The Lions won both, defeating Saint Ansgar and Columbus Catholic to end the busy week 6-0.
“Any win you can get in conference is huge, and I thought our offense 1-9, did a great job of constantly applying pressure and our defense did a great job of bouncing back after the few errors we had,” said Coach Thompson. “Makyla pitched great and any win you can get in less than seven innings is huge in weeks where you have so many games to play and innings to pitch.”
Clear Lake 13
Saint Ansgar 5
The Lions took an early 10-0 lead at the top of the third, but the Saints found four runs in the bottom of the third to keep the game alive.
With no score in the fourth, the Lions were able to record three more runs in the fifth, while the Saints scored one.
The game ended after five innings due to the eight-run rule.
The Lion bats were fueled with a home run from Taylor Schwenn, who recorded one run off two hits and four RBI.
Taylor Bedford had three runs off three hits and Aspen Hill had three runs off three hits, including a double.
Alivia Paine recorded two runs off three hits and also had four RBI.
In the circle, Jorgia Thompson pitched all five innings and gave up five runs off seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
Behind Thompson, the Lions were perfect on the night with 15 putouts in 17 total chances with two assists.
“I thought Taylor did a great job of setting the tone for the day with a first-inning bomb off the flag pole in center field,” said Coach Thompson. “St. Ansgar is a good hitting team and it was very exciting to see Jorgia as an eighth grader come in and pitch the whole game to get her first varsity win and take some pressure off Makyla’s shoulders with Jezzie recovering from an elbow bruise.”
Clear Lake 5
Columbus Catholic 1
The Lions had a competitive game against the Columbus Catholic Sailors to end the tournament.
It took all seven innings, but the Lions scored first with two runs in the second inning.
It was a defensive battle in the third and fourth but the top of the fifth saw the Lions score one to lead 3-0.
The Sailors scored their lone run of the game in the bottom of the fifth and the Lions sealed the game in the sixth with two more runs.
Aspen Hill scored two runs for Clear Lake on one hit, a double.
Makyla Johnson had one run along with Taylor Schwenn and Jorgia Thompson, each recording a run.
Jorgia Thompson, Paine, Schwenn and Jezzie Thompson each had one RBI.
The Lion baserunners had four stolen bases.
Johnson was in the circle for all seven innings and allowed one run off six hits with five strikeouts.
In the field, the Lions committed two errors but had 21 putouts with 24 total chances and one assist.
“Playing a second game of a Saturday tourney at the end of week one, it is hard to know what to expect and it was a pleasant surprise to see a pretty good pitcher from Columbus Catholic that provided a good challenge for our pitchers,” said Coach Thompson. “Makyla did a great job of keeping them off balance and we got some big hits from Taylor and Jezzie in the late innings to extend our lead and get the win.”
Clear Lake 17
CGD 0
The Lions moved to 7-0 on the year with a shutout win over the Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Cowgirls Monday, June 1.
The Lions started strong, knocking in 10 runs in the first inning and through three, the Lions had scored 17.
Complete stats on the contest will appear in the next edition of the Mirror-Reporter.