There was little drama going into this weekend about who the Lowry High School softball team would play in the opening round of the Division I-A North Regional Championships that get under way Friday at South Tahoe High School.
However, in order for the Lady Bucks to remain the No. 2 seed and stay the home team, they needed to sweep Spring Creek this past weekend in Winnemucca. Lowry did just that, winning 5-1 on Friday afternoon and 14-2 and 9-1 on Saturday to finish 19-5 in the Division I-A North and 20-8 overall. The Lady Bucks will face Churchill County, a team it beat twice this season, at noon on Friday.
"We (coaches) challenged the girls to put all three aspects of the game into play and they did that," said LHS coach Ty Lucas. "The girls came out and played well on defense and acted like a team that knew what they were doing and they do."
Lowry jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning of Friday's game and never trailed. Alyssa Dendary and Taylor Schwartz used back-to-back singles to put the Lady Bucks in front.
Lowry broke through in the bottom of the fourth with a two-out rally. Schwartz kept the frame alive with a single, Jaecee Munger was hit by a pitch and Allison Barron singled to load the bases. With a 1-2 count, Jorden Raynor hit a ball to the fence to empty the bases and give the Lady Bucks a 4-0 advantage.
"That was a big hit right there," Lucas said. "She has been working hard all year in practice and for her to do that on senior day was nice."
Lowry added a single run in the fifth as Dendary doubled home Kylee McClellan. Spring Creek scored its lone run in the top of the sixth on a RBI-single by Serima Thompson.
Schwartz picked up the win in her final performance in the circle on her home field. The senior allowed one run on three hits. She walked three. Raynor, Dendary and Schwartz each had two hits.
Spring Creek took advantage of two Lowry errors in the opener on Saturday to lead 2-0 after the top of the first inning, but that proved to be short-lived. Higbee and McClellan hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game and the rout was on from there.
The Lady Bucks tacked on three more runs in the second inning as Raynor and Ashlee Barron reached base on a walk and single, respectively. After a fly out, Lexie Coleman, Higbee and McClellan all drove in runs with singles.
The Lady Bucks blew the contest open in the third with seven runs, taking advantage of seven walks by Janya Conklin and two errors by the Spring Creek defense. Lowry had just one hit in the frame - but it was a big one - a three-RBI double by Munger to put the Lady Bucks in front 12-2.
McKinnon started a two-run rally in the bottom of the fourth with a triple and she scored on a single by Coleman. Higbee and Dendary also singled to account for the other run.
Dendary picked up the win in her four inning of work. The junior allowed two runs on four hits and she struck out two and walked one. McClellan saw her first action in the circle this season in the fifth inning and she struck out one and walked one.
Higbee was 3-for-3 with a walk, three runs scored and two RBI. McClellan, Coleman and Dendary had two hits apiece and McKinnon, Munger and Barron had one hit each.
McClellan took to the circle for her first start of the season in the series finale and held the Spartans to four hits and an unearned run. The junior walked two and struck out one. Schwartz entered the game with one out in the sixth and was able to get Spring Creek to hit into a double play that was started by McClellan, who moved back to her shortstop position. Schwartz went on to pitch a perfect seventh inning.
"Our pitchers feed off each other, which is nice to see," Lucas said. "We brought Kyle in with a change of pace from Alyssa and Taylor. The plan is to work Kylee in and mess the timing up on the hitters. It's good to have the extra arm."
Spring Creek used two Lowry errors in the second inning to lead 1-0, but it was all Lady Bucks after that. Lowry strung together two singles by Dendary and another by Higbee and were aided by two Spring Creek errors to score six times in the bottom of the second. The Lady Bucks added a single run in the third and two more in the fifth to account for the final score.
Dendary and Munger each had two hits and Alyssa Jones, Higbee, McClellan and Schwartz had one hit apiece.
Lowry's run at the state championship begins Friday at noon in South Tahoe as it takes on Churchill County at noon in the Division I-A Regional Championships. Fernley and Dayton play at 10 a.m. The two losers will meet each other at 2 p.m. on Friday, while the winners play at 4 p.m. The championship is set for noon on Saturday. The top two teams advance to the state tournament in Reno.
"It's a new season and we have to step up the intensity in practice all week," Lucas said. "We know we are getting with Fallon, Fernley and Dayton. It comes down to whoever shows up for the taking. Our objective is to show up and establish ourselves as the dominant team. That is what the goal is."[[In-content Ad]]
