WINNEMUCCA - After winning the Fernley Preseason tournament for a fourth year in a row, the Lowry High School junior varsity softball team might want to rename it the Lowry Invitational with all the success they have had.
The Lady Bucks were dominant once again at the tournament, winning six games - including avenging one of its two losses they suffered a season ago.
Lowry (6-0) opened the tournament on Friday, March 9, with a 16-0 win over Virginia City and followed that up with a 16-3 victory over rival Spring Creek. The Lady Bucks overcame a two-run deficit to beat Sparks 15-4 in their first game Saturday and added a 24-1 win over Eureka. In the semifinal, Lowry beat Bishop Manogue 6-4 and in the final knocked off host Fernley 12-2.
"It was a very nice way to start out the season," said LHS head coach Katy Schwartz. "I was very proud of the girls. We have a tradition of winning this tournament. We were able to avenge our loss to Manogue last year and it is always nice to beat Fernley."
In the win over Virginia City, Lowry used a 12-run first inning to put the game out of reach quickly. The Lady Bucks had just three hits in the frame, singles by Taylor Schwartz and McKenzie Moore and the major blow was a home run by Jaecee Munger. The Muckers walked six batters and hit another in the opening inning, as each Lowry player in the lineup scored at least once, with two scoring twice.
Schwartz earned the win for the Lady Bucks, as she allowed two hits and a walk. The lone Virginia City hits came in the fourth inning, breaking up a no-hitter.
Lowry scored three times in the second inning and closed out the scoring with a RBI-single by Alyssa Jones, who knocked in Kylee McClellan, who led off the inning with a triple.
The offense continued to click in the Spring Creek win, with Lexie Coleman, Schwartz, Alyssa Dendary and Jones all picking up singles in the first inning. The barrage continued into the second frame, as the Lady Bucks sent 15 batters to the plate and scored 12 runs on eight hits, including a triple by Coleman to cap off the scoring. Lowry added five runs in the fourth inning on five consecutive hits by Schwartz, Munger, Dendary, Jorden Raynor and Jones.
McClellan started in the circle for Lowry and struck out the side in the first inning. She ran into trouble, allowing three runs in the second, but allowed just one runner to reach base in the final two innings.
In its first game on Saturday, Lowry fell behind 2-0 to Sparks after an inning of play but Dendary settled down in the circle, giving up just one hit in the final three innings in the seven-strikeout performance.
Lowry quickly took control of the game, scoring 10 runs in the bottom of the second inning on the strength of seven hits, with six of those for extra bases. Raynor had two doubles in the inning, with Moore also adding a double. McClellan and Moore contributed back-to-back triples. Moore and Dendary also had triples as part of a five-run third inning that countered a pair of runs by Sparks in the top of the third.
The first 10 batters reached base and scored in the win over Eureka, as Lowry scored 11 runs in the first inning, erasing a 1-0 deficit to the Vandals. Schwartz and Dendary each had a home run in the 11-run frame, with Jones picking up a single. The Lady Bucks added five runs in the second and eight in the third on four consecutive singles by McClellan, Coleman, Schwartz and Munger.
Schwartz earned the win as she allowed two hits and one run in her four innings of work that included three strikeouts.
Lowry's closest game of the tournament proved to be against Bishop Manogue, who took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning off of McClellan, who started for the Lady Bucks.
Lowry took the lead for good with four runs in the top of the fourth inning on the strength of a triple by Schwartz, which scored McClellan and Coleman, who started off the inning with singles. Dendary picked up the last RBI with a single.
Bishop Manogue countered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut the deficit to a run at 4-3, but Lowry countered with two runs in the fifth on the strength of singles by Tanisha May and McClellan. The Miners were one of only two teams to beat the Lady Bucks a year ago.
"It helps when we have a pretty good pitching staff and we are pretty deep in the infield," Schwartz said. "Everyone chipped in one way or another over the weekend. We hit the ball well and played good defense. Manogue wasn't the team they were a year ago, but it was still a good win for us."
Lowry jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning of the championship game against Fernley, with the help of a three-run home run by Schwartz. Dendary, Raynor and Moore followed with base hits to account for the other two runs.
The Vaqueros cut the advantage to 5-2 after two innings of play, but the Lady Bucks scored once in the fourth and six more times in the top of the sixth to break the game open. McClellan, Raynor and Jones each had doubles in the big inning.
"We only trailed a couple of times but we never panicked," Schwartz said. "Overall for the first weekend we played very well."
Lowry is off this weekend and travels to Fallon on Friday, March 23, and Saturday, March 24, for three crossover games. The Lady Bucks face Churchill County at 2 p.m. on March 23, and Fernley and Dayton at noon and 2 p.m., respectively, on March 24. Lowry hosts Carlin in a doubleheader on Thursday, March 29, at 3 p.m.[[In-content Ad]]
