Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, otherwise known as the Lowry High School softball team, showed up once again in Fallon last week.
The Lady Bucks continued their Friday struggles, losing 11-3 to Churchill County on April 18. Four of Lowry's five losses have been on the last day of the school week this season.
However, as it has been all year, the Lady Bucks bounced back on Saturday and swept the Greenwave 12-4 and 8-3 to move into first place in the Division I-A North at 13-2. It was the first two losses in league play for Churchill County (12-3), who also lost to Fernley (10-2) on Tuesday.
"It was the tale of two teams again," said LHS coach Ty Lucas. "We have come to the conclusion that it is a mental thing. The girls have shown they are more than capable of playing well. We just have to figure out mentally how to get ready to play that first game of the series. The girls showed tremendous heart on Saturday. They could have easily rolled over and didn't. We have talent on this team. The rest of the league has been content to give Fallon or Fernley the title. Our girls are not OK with that at all. They want to make a point that we are still in this fight."
Errors played a big part in the loss in the opening game of the series, leading to the first two runs of the game for Churchill County. The Lady Bucks cut the deficit in half in the top of the third inning as Ere Higbee drove home Ashlee Barron.
Riley Ricken added a solo home run in the bottom of the third and Churchill County added a single run in the fourth to go in front 5-1. Lowry used singles from Kylee McClellan and Lexie Coleman in the sixth inning to cut the margin to 5-2, but the Greenwave countered with six runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the contest out of reach. Lowry attempted to rally in the seventh as Shelby McKinnon scored on a sacrifice fly by Higbee, but that was all the offense for the Lady Bucks.
McClellan was 2-for-4 for Lowry, while five others had one hit. Taylor Schwartz took the loss in the complete-game effort. She allowed 11 runs (eight earned) on 11 hits. She struck out one and walked two.
Lowry wasted little time on Saturday to get going, scoring five times in the first inning and never looked back. McKinnon began the rally with an error, which was followed by a double by Alyssa Dendary. Following a walk to Higbee, Schwartz, Jaecee Munger and Alyssa Jones all singled with two outs. All three hits drove in runs.
McKinnon provided Lowry with a 6-0 advantage in the top of the second, as she led off with a single and scored on an error. That was all the offense for the Lady Bucks until the seventh inning, when they tacked on six more runs. Three of those came off a home run by McKinnon and two more off as triple by Munger.
Before the six-run seventh inning, Churchill County closed the gap to 6-4. Dendary picked up the win for Lowry, scattering nine hits in the complete-game effort. The junior walked five and struck out three.
McKinnon, Dendary, Schwartz, Munger and Jones had one hit apiece. McKinnon and Munger each drove in three runs and Jones had two RBI.
"The girls came out with an attitude on Saturday and went right after them," Lucas said. "When we play clean ball and do what we are supposed to do, we are tough to beat. Our mindset has been to go play games and we don't care about the name of the front of the jersey. All we see is faceless opponents."
Lowry fell behind 1-0 in the series finale, but grabbed the lead for good with a pair of runs in the fourth inning. Coleman and Schwartz each reached base on errors by the Churchill County second baseman and eventually scored. Barron knocked home Coleman and Schwartz plated the second run on a wild pitch.
The Lady Bucks extended the advantage to 3-1 in the fifth off back-to-back hits by Higbee and McClellan. Higbee scored when Jordan Raynor hit a ball back to the pitcher, which was misplayed.
Churchill County tied the game in the bottom of the fifth, but that was quickly erased as McKinnon led off the sixth with a solo home run, her second on the day. After a fly-out by Dendary, Higbee and McClellan put together back-to-back doubles and Coleman and Schwartz added singles and Lowry went on to score five runs to lead 8-3.
Higbee and McClellan each had three hits and Dendary added two. After suffering the loss on Friday, Schwartz bounced back to pick up the victory. She allowed three runs on five hits, while walking three.
Lowry hosted Truckee on Thursday and results were not available at press time. The two schools play a doubleheader on Friday at 1 p.m. The series was moved up to accommodate Truckee, who's prom is Saturday.
"We still have work to do," Lucas said. "The girls have to remember that being No. 1 right means nothing. We want to be No. 1 at the end of the season. That is something we have to work on. We can't be satisfied with winning two games at Fallon. We have a much bigger picture in front of us."
Winnemucca Publishing sports editor Tony Erquiaga can be reached at t.erquiaga@winnemuccapublishing.net.[[In-content Ad]]
