WINNEMUCCA - For the past several seasons, the Lowry High School varsity softball team has looked to bolster its preseason schedule by traveling to Sacramento, Calif., to open its season.
The Lady Bucks headed over the Sierra Nevada Mountains for the three-day Victory Preseason Classic held from Thursday, March 7, through Saturday, March 9.
Lowry opened up with Wood High School (Vacaville, Calif.) on Thursday, March 7, and won 4-3. The Lady Bucks faced Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove, Calif.) in their first game on Friday, March 8, and lost 4-0. Pleasant Grove was the defending champions of the tourney. In its second game on Friday, March 8, Lowry lost 18-1 to Woodcreek (Roseville, Calif.) The Lady Bucks lost 2-0 to Vanden (Fairfield) and Cosumnes Oaks (Elk Grove, Calif.) 5-4.
"I felt we played pretty good against some solid competition," said LHS head coach Ty Lucas. "I thought we could have won three games. The biggest thing that we struggled with was our hitting. Our offense was lagging behind our defense and pitching. But I expected that to be the case. It was our first live pitching that we saw and the California schools have been playing games for about three weeks."
Wood grabbed the early lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. Lowry's Jordan Mecham settled down from there allowing just one run and two hits the rest of the way in earning the victory.
The Lady Bucks tied the game in the top of the third after Shelby McKinnon walked with one out. Ere Higbee followed with a single and later scored on a sacrifice by Taylor Schwartz.
Trailing 3-2 going into the top of the seventh inning, Jorden Raynor led off with a single but later was out on a fielder's choice by Alyssa Jones. McKinnon and Higbee followed with back-to-back singles and Kylee McClellan closed out the rally with a fielder's choice that scored Higbee with the winning run.
Mecham retired the Wildcats in order in the bottom of the seventh and finished with four strikeouts and no walks. McKinnon, Higbee, McClellan, Raynor and Jones each had two hits.
Pleasant Grove scattered one run apiece in the first, third, fifth and sixth innings to account for its four runs. Lowry scattered four hits throughout the game and had two runners on base in the sixth inning, but the Lady Bucks could not push a run across the plate.
Jaecee Munger, Allison Barron, McKinnon and Higbee each had one hit. Mecham went the distance in the circle and allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits. The senior struck out two and walked none.
Lowry had the tough task of facing Woodcreek in its final pool game of the tournament. The Timberwolves are ranked No. 12 in California and No. 36 in the nation by Max Preps.
Woodcreek scored the first seven runs of the contest, when McClellan put the Lady Bucks on the board with a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning.
The Timberwolves added one run in the third and collected five runs apiece in the fourth and fifth innings. Lowry was held to four hits as Alyssa Dendary, McKinnon and Schwartz picked up the other three hits.
Schwartz suffered the loss for the Lady Bucks as she struck out four and walked one.
In the first game of bracket play all the offense came in the first inning as Vanden scored twice on the strength of a two-run home run. Mecham was strong in the circle from that point on as she allowed just two hits. Mecham had six strikeouts against the Vikings, without allowing a walk.
Lowry had a rally going in the bottom of the seventh inning as McClellan and Carli Evatz singled with one out, but the next two Lady Buckaroo batters were retired to end the game.
McClellan had two of the four hits for Lowry, while Higbee and Evatz had the other base hits.
"Kylee played well all weekend," Lucas said. "She moved into the shortstop position and she was our most consistent hitter. I liked that we got better every game. Defensively, we were solid in all our games. I am impressed with this young group and how resilient they are. We lost some quality all-state players from a year ago and we have girls that are filling those spots well. These young girls have big shoes to fill. They have really stepped up and have not batted an eye at what is in front of them."
In the tournament finale, Cosumnes Oaks did most of its scoring, with four runs in the first inning. The Wolfpack's Jessika Wilkins led off the game with a solo home run and Cosumnes Oaks added three more hits in the opening frame.
Lowry used back-to-back-to-back singles from McClellan, Schwartz and Evatz to close the gap to 4-3 in the bottom of the second inning. The Lady Bucks tied the game in the third after Munger led off the frame with a walk, later scoring on a groundout by Evatz.
The Wolfpack reclaimed the advantage in the fourth inning and held off the Lady Bucks for the final two innings.
Mecham went the distance in the circle allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits. She struck out one and walked one. McClellan picked up half of Lowry's six hits, while McKinnon, Schwartz and Evatz had one each.
"For the most part, I thought we did a good job," Lucas said. "It's not like we were playing mediocre schools. We were playing some of the best teams in northern California. It throws us right into the fire, but I am OK with that. If we can compete and adjust to these kinds of teams, it will make it easier on us throughout the year."
Lowry (2-6 overall, 1-2 Ruby Mountain League) hosts Pershing County today at 4 p.m.
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