The Lowry High School softball team continued to feast on its early portion of the Northern 3A schedule, extending its win streak to seven games with a sweep of Sparks this past weekend in Winnemucca.
The Lady Bucks outscored the Railroaders 41-5 in the three games to move into second place in the Northern 3A at 7-1. Dayton leads the league at 9-0. Lowry beat Sparks 12-1 on Friday and swept a doubleheader 14-4 and 15-0 on Saturday.
“The girls were into the first two games, which was a good sign,” said LHS coach Ty Lucas. “But we definitely needed to improve on a couple things that we were getting off task on. It was not as clean as we wanted it to be.”
Lowry cruises
past Sparks
Lowry gave up a run in the top of the first inning on Friday afternoon but that was all the offense for the Railroaders. Senior Sylvie Prokasky allowed just two singles in the final four innings in the Lady Buckaroo rout.
The Lady Bucks answered back in the bottom of the first inning with three runs on the strength of doubles by Alyssa Kuskie and Kyllie Sappington and singles by Kelcey Cooper and Bailey Sapien.
Lowry broke the contest open with seven runs in the second inning. Prokasky started the rally with a one-out single and scored on a RBI-single by Cooper. Connors had the big blow of the inning with a three-run home run. The junior had four home runs on the weekend. Sierra Maestrejuan and Prokasky drove in the final two runs.
Lowry closed out the contest with two runs in the fourth inning. Prokasky earned the win in the circle with the complete-game outing. She allowed three hits to go with four strikeouts and four walks.
Sappington was 4-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored. Kuskie, Cooper and Prokasky each had two hits. Savannah Dalley, Madi McClellan, Sapien and Maestrejuan had one hits apiece.
Lady Bucks roll
past Railroaders
For the second game in a row, Lowry allowed Sparks to take the lead in the first inning but it was short-lived.
The Lady Bucks sent eight batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning and scored four runs off of base hits by Kuskie, Sappington and Sapien.
Lowry opened the bottom of the second with back-to-back-to-back singles by Prokasky, Kuskie and Cooper to help increase the margin to 7-1. Sacrifice flies by Sappington and McClellan led to the final two runs of the frame.
Sparks did not go away and strung together three hits in the third inning to score three runs and cut the deficit to 7-4. That was as close as the Railroaders got and were held without a hit the rest of the way.
Lowry increased the lead to 10-4 in the fourth inning after consecutive hits by Cooper, Sappington, Connors and McClellan. The Lady Bucks added four runs in the bottom of the fifth and ended the contest on the 10-run rule with a two-run home run by Connors.
Lowry powered out 14 hits, with Kuskie leading the way with three. The senior added three RBI and three runs scored. Cooper, Sappington, Connors and Prokasky had two hits apiece. McClellan, Sapien and Maestrejuan each had one hit.
Macey Katzenmeyer collected the win for Lowry, scattering eight hits in five innings of work. She allowed four runs and struck out three while walking one.
Lowry blanks Sparks
Prokasky faced the minimum batters in the finale against Sparks and finished with a no-hitter. The senior hurler allowed a lead-off walk that was erased with a double play.
Lowry raced out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning, which included a three-run home run by Connors. Connors also had a three-run home run in the third inning and was 3-for-3 in the finale with seven RBI.
The Lady Bucks added four runs in the second and six more in the third inning to end the game on the 15-run mercy rule.
“We challenged them in the three games and dialed it in,” Lucas said. “They brought energy and focus and it showed on the scoreboard. We are happy with winning all three games in the series. All three phases were strong and complimented each other.”
Prokasky helped herself out with two hits and three RBI and Kuskie, Cooper, Sappington, McClellan, Sapien and Maestrejuan each had one hit.
Lowry will look to extend its winning streak this weekend in Elko. The two rivals face each other on Friday at 3 p.m. and play a doubleheader on Saturday at 11 a.m.
The Lady Bucks will tentatively travel back to Fernley on Wednesday, April 11, to finish the series with Fernley.
“We need to clean a few things up but our focus is on Elko,” Lucas said.
