DAYTON — It took an extra couple days to complete, but the Lowry High School softball team remained undefeated in the Northern 3A with three wins at Dayton to start the week.
The Lady Bucks’ spring break was extended a couple days by Mother Nature, as the squad had to make up games that were canceled at the end of last week.
Lowry swept a doubleheader 19-3 and 3-0 on Monday and won a single game on Tuesday 14-0 to improve to 12-0 in the Northern 3A and 14-3 overall. The Lady Bucks have won their last 13 games and have outscored their league opponents 193-13.
“Overall, all three phases of the game are getting it done for us right now,” said LHS coach Ty Lucas. “We are coming out and doing what we need to do to get victories. There are things we still need to fine tune, but the goal is to get better every day.”
Lowry routs Dayton
The Lady Bucks scored multiple runs in each of the four innings in Monday’s opener, pulling away with 14 runs in the final two innings.
Alyssa Kuskie opened the contest with a triple and scored on a wild pitch, while Kyllie Sappington, Sydney Connors and Madi McClellan had singles. Lowry jumped out to a 3-0 advantage and did not look back.
Dayton cut the gap to 3-2 in the bottom of the first inning on just one hit, as sophomore Macey Katzenmeyer settled in after the opening frame.
The Lady Bucks used back-to-back doubles from Kelcey Cooper and Sappington in the second inning to extend the lead to 4-2.
Lowry broke the contest open with five runs in the third inning, with the rally beginning with a walk to Alanna Miller. The senior scored moments later on a double by McClellan. Cooper, a freshman, closed out the frame with a two-RBI single to give Lowry a 10-2 lead.
Lowry sent 14 batters to the plate in the fourth inning and scored nine runs. The Lady Bucks were aided by two walks, two hit batter and a number of Dust Devil errors.
Lowry pounded out 13 hits, with McClellan going 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI and a run scored. Cooper was one of four players with two hits, as she added five RBI and two runs scored. Kuskie, Sappington and Amaya Herrera each had two hits and two RBI.
Katzenmeyer went the distance in the circle and allowed three runs on four hits. She walked three and struck out three.
Lady Bucks scratch out victory
The second game on Monday was a different story, as Lowry found itself in its closest game since Northern 3A action began.
“It’s not always about the offense for us,” Lucas said. “Our defense stepped up and played well for us, We got a great outing from Sylvie (Prokasky) and the defense backed her up well. We hit the ball hard, but it was right at people. It was one of those games, but you have to give credit to Dayton for making plays.”
The Lady Bucks had runners on base in each of the first two innings, but could not break through until the third inning.
With one out, Kuskie began the three-run rally with a double to right field. After a walk to Cooper, Sappington singled and Miller and McClellan added singles to account for the final runs of the game.
Prokasky picked up the win in the circle, as she scattered five hits through seven innings. Only one batter reached third base for the Dust Devils. Prokasky struck out eight and walked none. Sixty-six of her 88 pitches were strikes.
Miller led the hitting attack going 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. Cooper and McClellan each had two hits.
Lowry blanks Dayton in finale
Lowry scored in every inning in the series finale, grabbing a 1-0 advantage in the first inning on a RBI-single by Connors that scored Kuskie.
The bottom of the line-up started a three-run rally in the third with Tiana Herrera leading off with a single. Bailey Sapien and Prokasky reached base on fielder choices and Kuskie and Sappington finished the frame with singles.
Lowry pulled away in the third inning with six runs, including back-to-back hits by Miller and McClellan to start the inning. Kuskie added a two-RBI triple and Miller came back through the line-up to end the scoring with a two-RBI double.
Cooper added a three-run home run in the fourth inning and Miller went deep to right field in the fifth to give Lowry a 14-0 lead.
Miller was 3-for-4 on the day with three RBI and two runs scored. Kuskie added two hits, four RBI and two runs scored and Connors also had two hits. Cooper finished with one hit, three RBI and two runs scored.
Prokasky went the distance in the circle once again, where she allowed six hits. She struck out one and walked one.
Lowry opened a three-game series at home with South Tahoe on Friday and results were not available at press time. The two teams play a doubleheader today (Saturday) at 11 a.m.
Lowry leads the Northern 3A at 12-0, while Churchill County is 11-0 and in second place.
Fernley (12-2) is third with both of its losses to Churchill County. South Tahoe (7-5) is fourth and Elko (6-5) and Sparks (2-10) are fifth and sixth, respectively.
