WINNEMUCCA - With the opening week of play out of the way, the Lowry High School varsity softball team may have wrapped up the toughest part of its schedule after playing in the Victory Preseason Tournament of Champions this past weekend in Sacramento, Calif.
The Lady Bucks (0-5) opened with Galena of the Northern 4A on Thursday, March 8, and were defeated 10-3 by the Grizzlies. From there it was a streak of four games against California schools starting with St. Francis (Sacramento, Calif.), on Friday, March 9, where the Lady Bucks lost 3-0. Later that night in a schedule change, Lowry took on host Elk Grove and lost 7-1. The Thundering Herd finished last year ranked No. 45 in the nation by MaxPreps. Lowry closed out the tournament on Saturday with an 11-3 loss to Benicia and a 7-3 loss to Franklin (Elk Grove, Calif.).
"We held our own for the most part," said LHS head coach Ty Lucas. "Against teams like that if you make one or two mistakes they capitalize on those mistakes and it is hard to recover. We learned a lot about the fact that not only do we have a lot of work to do to be more cohesive as a team, the biggest thing we have to improve on is our mental part of the game, and I have to do a better job of that. Our mental approach was lacking and that is my fault. Us coaches could have done a better job of getting them more mentally prepared."
In the loss to Galena, the Grizzlies scored two runs in each of the first two innings and added three runs apiece in the third and fourth frames to earn the 10-0 win. The Lady Bucks were held to just three hits, one each by Madi Gonzalez, Sydnie Sundahl and Shelby McKinnon. Each of the three reached third base but was stranded as the innings came to a close.
Kayla Doyle started for Lowry and took the loss in 3.3 innings of work. The senior allowed seven runs, six hits and four walks with a strikeout.
St. Francis used a single and double with a Lowry error in between to take a 2-0 advantage in the first inning and made the lead hold up the rest of the way. The Troubadours added a run in the second inning but were held to just three hits in the final four innings by the Lady Bucks' McClellan.
Lowry's McKinnon was the only one to reach second base after a single in the third inning. Hana Etcheverry, McClellan and Taylor Johnson each singled but were left stranded at first base. McClellan suffered the loss, as she allowed three runs (two earned) on eight hits. She walked one with no strikeouts. St. Francis is currently ranked No. 110 in the nation and 27th in California by MaxPreps.
Lowry scored its first run of the tournament in the bottom of the second inning against Elko Grove on a base-loaded walk to Angie Herrera, which scored Ashley Lombardi, who led off the inning by reaching on an error and stealing second base.
The Thundering Herd picked up two runs in the fourth and fifth innings to extend their lead to 7-1. After scoring in the second inning, the Lady Bucks had just one runner reach base in the final three innings, that coming on a leadoff single by Gonzalez in the bottom of the fifth inning. Gonzalez led the team with three hits.
Jordan Mecham started for Lowry and took the loss, giving up seven runs (four earned) in five innings of work. The junior gave up 10 hits, while walking three and striking out one.
In the first game on Saturday, Lowry overcame a 3-0 deficit to Benicia to tie the game at 3-3 in the top of the third inning, with the aid of just one hit. McKinnon led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on two wild pitches. Gonzalez reached on a walk as well and stole second and third before scoring on a catching error. The third run came on a sacrifice by Heather McElvain that scored Doyle, who also walked.
The Panthers countered with the go-ahead and eventual winning run in the bottom of the fourth to lead 4-3. Benicia scored three times in the fourth and four more in the fifth to account for the final score. Lowry used back-to-back hits from Sundahl and McKinnon in the top of the fourth but could not do anything with the rally.
"We struggled on the bases with our running game," said the coach. "We had a lot of mistakes on the bases and we have to go back to the drawing board on that part of the game. Defensively I thought we did a pretty good job. We were a little nervous and shell-shocked in the first game, but the girls got better as the tournament went on."
Doyle led the Lady Bucks with two hits, with Sundahl and McKinnon adding one each. Doyle started for Lowry in the circle and was tagged with the loss after giving up 11 runs (seven earned) on 10 hits. She walked two and struck out one.
In the tournament finale, Franklin used three home runs, including two in the first inning, to help itself to the win. Lowry tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the third inning on a sacrifice by Herrera that scored McKinnon, who led off the frame with a single. Gonzalez came around to score on a single by McClellan.
The Wildcats answered in the bottom of the third by scoring four runs on the strength of a triple and home run to take a 6-2 lead. Etcheverry led off the sixth inning with a home run, but with the bases loaded the game came to an end as a Lowry runner was hit by the ball in play, ending the rally and game. McClellan led the team with two hits.
"It was a line-drive in between first and second and it ended up hitting Shelby," Lucas said. "With Madi hitting it was probably a triple and scores three runs if it doesn't hit Shelby. But that is how our weekend went."
After playing its first weekend in California, Lowry heads the other way on Interstate 80 to the Utah border to face West Wendover in a Ruby Mountain League matchup starting today at 4 p.m. The two schools will play a doubleheader Saturday at 11 a.m.
"We played two of the top teams in California and the nation, so we know we can compete," Lucas said. "We just saw some of the toughest teams we will see all year in a preseason tournament and that will only have us prepared for the rest of the season. It was good for our pitchers because they won't see lineups like that the rest of the season. We go to these tournaments to test ourselves."
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