WINNEMUCCA - After suffering two heartbreaking losses this past weekend in the Division I-A North Regional Championships on its home field, the Lowry High School softball team will look back and think, what if.
The Lady Bucks (25-12 overall) held leads in two games in the late going, only to lose both contests in extra innings.
In its opener on Friday morning, Lowry was up 3-1 over Churchill County in the top of the seventh inning, when the Greenwave scored twice to tie the game. Churchill County, the two-time defending Division I-A champion, scored two more runs in the top of the eighth to win the game 5-3.
That defeat sent Lowry into the loser's bracket game on Friday night, where it beat Elko 3-0. It was the fourth win of the year for the Lady Bucks over the Indians.
With a trip to the state tournament on the line, Lowry faced Fernley on Saturday morning. The Lady Bucks led 4-1 after one inning and was up 7-3 going into the bottom of the sixth. However, the Vaqueros rallied for the 9-8 victory in nine innings.
"It was the weekend of lost opportunities for us," said LHS head coach Ty Lucas. "We came into the weekend feeling like we were the best team of the four. At times we showed we were the best team, but the better team doesn't always win. We had one bad inning in both our losses and that ended up costing us the games."
Lowry found itself trailing by a run to Churchill County after Kaysee Archer hit a solo home run with one out in the top of the first inning. The Greenwave managed just two hits and a walk in the next five innings.
Lowry quickly gained the advantage in the bottom of the first, with Carli Evatz starting a one-out rally on a single. Ere Higbee then sacrificed Evatz over to second base on a bunt and the Lady Bucks tied the game when Kylee McClellan singled to drive Evatz home. Alyssa Dendary added the third hit of the inning with her double to plate McClellan and give Lowry a 2-1 lead.
The Lady Bucks extended the margin to 3-1 in the bottom of the second after Lexie Coleman was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame. Lowry played small ball once again as Taylor Schwartz moved Coleman over to second base on a sacrifice bunt. Coleman moved over to third base after a ground out by Alyssa Jones and scored after a wild pitch by Churchill County pitcher Rileigh Ricken.
That was the last major rally for the Lady Bucks for the rest of the game. Coleman doubled in the fourth inning and reached third base before the rally fizzled out. Lowry had just four hits in the final six innings of play.
With its bats silent for much of the game, Churchill County rallied in the top of the seventh on a leadoff single by Cady Cordes. Cordes advanced to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on a single by Ali Tedford to bring the Greenwave within a run at 3-2. Tedford advanced to second on a throwing error in the outfield and came around to plate the tying run.
The Lady Bucks were retired in order in the bottom of the seventh and the Greenwave remained hot in the top of the eighth, with three consecutive base hits to start the frame. Archer and Megan McCormick both singled and Ricken followed with a double to clear the bases and give Churchill County a 5-3 advantage.
Lowry had one last chance to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth, but could not get the ball out of the infield with a pop out to shortstop and two ground ball outs to end the game."
"We let Fallon off the hook one more time," Lucas said. "I don't know what it is when we play them. It has happened for the last couple of years and it was the same thing at the state tournament last year. We have to find a way to close the game out. We were the better team for six innings, but you have to prove it for the entire game."
Jordan Mecham went the distance for the Lady Bucks in the circle and suffered the loss. The senior allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits. She struck out seven and walked one.
McClellan and Dendary led Lowry with two hits apiece and Shelby McKinnon, Evatz and Coleman each had one.
In Friday's elimination game, Lowry scored all the runs it would need in the bottom of the third inning. Schwartz led off with a single and advanced to third base after a one-out single by McKinnon. With runners on second and third base, Evatz laid down a bunt that scored Schwartz. Higbee followed with a RBI single to plate McKinnon and give the Lady Bucks a 2-0 lead.
The score remained the same until the sixth inning, when Lowry tacked on an insurance run. With two outs, Dendary singled and the sophomore eventually reached third base after a stolen base and passed ball. Dendary came around to score after a throwing error by the Elko third baseman off a ball hit by Jaecee Munger.
--See SOFTBALL, Page Nine--
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Mecham was dominant in the circle for Lowry, facing the minimum number of batters through four innings. She allowed a second-inning walk, but that runner was erased on a double play.
With two outs in the fifth, Elko rallied to put two runners on base after consecutive errors by Lowry. However, Mecham was able to strike out the final batter in the inning to end the rally.
Mecham threw a complete game and allowed no runs on two hits. She struck out seven and walked one.
McKinnon, Higbee, Dendary, Munger, Schwartz and Mecham each had hits for the Lady Bucks.
Playing as the visitor on Saturday morning against Fernley, Lowry raced to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. The Lady Bucks collected four hits off of Vaquero starter Jordan King and took advantage of two Fernley errors.
With one out, Evatz and Higbee reached base and they were driven home on the strength of a double by McKinnon. Dendary and Munger each followed with singles to put the Lady Bucks up 4-0.
Fernley earned one of the runs back on a solo home run by Serena Olsen in the bottom of the first, cutting the gap to three runs.
The Vaqueros scraped together single runs in the third and fifth innings to cut the deficit to 4-3.
Lowry appeared to take control in the top of the sixth inning, scoring three runs to go in front 7-3. McClellan led off with a walk and Dendary followed with a walk to put two runners on base with no outs. McClellan came around to score on a wild pitch and after the first out was recorded, Coleman walked and Schwartz did the rest of the damage with a double to score a pair of runs and chase King from the game.
The advantage proved to be short-lived as Fernley answered with five runs and six hits in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Vaqueros used their speed to beat out three bunt base hits. The rally by Fernley forced Mecham out of the game in the pitching circle. Schwartz entered for Lowry and was able to get the Lady Bucks out of the inning, but not before the Vaqueros took the 8-7 lead on a wild pitch.
With its season on the line, Lowry rallied for a single run in the top of the seventh after McClellan reached base on an error by Fernley's second baseman. Munger made the Vaqueros pay for the mistake, singling home McClellan with the tying run.
Fernley threatened with opportunities in the seventh and eighth innings. Meanwhile Lowry had a chance to take the lead in the eighth inning after Evatz doubled with two outs. Higbee followed with a single to centerfield and Evatz was sent home on the play, but was thrown out at home after a perfect throw by Bailey Henderson from the outfield.
Lowry was sent down in order in the ninth inning. As they did in the opening game against Elko, Fernley pulled out the victory in walk off fashion, this time as Taylor Hires-Caulk led off the ninth inning with a home run over the right field fence.
"It was the little things that hurt us," Lucas said. "We made mistakes on the bases on two occasions and we lost patience at the plate. There were two innings where we saw just four pitches. We needed to be more patient. We hurt ourselves and those are things we can fix."
Mecham took the loss for Lowry as she allowed eight runs (five earned) on 13 hits. She struck out two and walked none. Evatz and Munger led Lowry with two hits.
"We are going to work over the summer and get ready for next year," Lucas said. "This was a team that was decimated by graduation last year and we had nine new girls come in. We came back and put together a hell of a year. We got better as the year went on and I could not be more proud of them. They did a lot of good things and earned everything they got. I will go to battle with these girls any day."
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