Lady Bucks win final two games at Fallon

Lady Bucks win final two games at Fallon

Lady Bucks win final two games at Fallon

After dropping its opening game to Churchill County last Friday, the Lowry High School softball team rebounded for a pair of wins on Saturday afternoon to move into second place in the Northern 3A.

The Lady Bucks (18-3 Northern 3a) need just one win against last-place Truckee this week to clinch the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the Northern 3A Regional Championships in Fallon from May 10-12.

Churchill claimed the opening game of the series 10-5, only to see Lowry sweep the doubleheader on Saturday 10-0 and 4-3.

Big sixth inning leads Greenwave to win

After giving up a run in the first inning of Friday’s contest, Lowry claimed its first lead in the top of the third inning on a two-RBI double by Kelcey Cooper that scored Sierra Maestrejuan and Macey Katzenmeyer.

The advantage was short-lived, as Churchill County’s Caitlyn Welch opened the bottom of the third inning with a solo home run. The Greenwave added two more runs to go in front 4-2.

Churchill County added a single run in the fifth to lead 5-2, when Lowry’s Sydney Connors hit a two-run home run in the top of the fifth inning to cut the deficit to 5-4.

The difference in the day was the bottom of the sixth inning where the Greenwave scored five runs, which included a three-run home run from Macie Anderson.

Cooper led off the top of the seventh inning with a solo home run but the final three batters were retired in order to end the contest.

Cooper, Connors and Maestrejuan each had two hits for the Lady Bucks.

Katzenmeyer suffered the loss in six innings of work. She allowed 10 runs (eight earned) on seven hits. She had six strikeouts and 10 walks.

Lowry blanks

Churchill County

Lowry fought back in a big way on Saturday morning, as Maestrejuan turned in a stellar performance in the circle. The sophomore blanked the Greenwave and allowed just three hits to pick up the victory. Churchill County had just two batters reach second base.

Maestrejuan threw just 59 pitches and had one strikeout and no walks.

The Lady Bucks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on the strength of a RBI-double by Kyllie Sappington that scored Alyssa Kuskie. Sappington plated the second run after a single by Madi McClellan.

Lowry extended the advantage to 6-0 in the second inning on a three-run home run by Connors that scored Kuskie and Cooper. The Lady Bucks hit their second three-run of the game in the fourth inning, this time by McClellan. Lowry used a double by Sappington in the fifth inning to increase the lead to 10-0 and end the game on the mercy rule.

Kuskie, Sappington, Connors and McClellan had two hits apiece for the Lady Bucks. Bailey Sapien, Cooper and Maestrejuan each had one hit.

Lady Bucks win

series finale

Churchill County used back-to-back doubles to go up in the bottom of the first inning to go in front 1-0 but Lowry scored the next four runs.

The Lady Bucks jumped ahead 2-1 in the top of the third inning on the strength of a two-run home run by Connors. Lowry continued to use the long ball to its advantage, as Maestrejuan tacked on a solo home run in the fourth inning to increase the Lady Buckaroo lead to 3-1.

The Greenwave took advantage of two walks and an error by the Lady Bucks to close the gap to 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning. Sappington added the final run for Lowry in the fifth inning, after she scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Maestrejuan.

Churchill County closed the gap to 4-3 in the fifth inning and had two runners on base in the seventh inning but Katzenmeyer was able to work her way out of trouble in the circle.

Maestrejuan started her second straight game and received a no-decision. She gave up one run on three hits in two innings of work. She struck out three and walked four. Katzenmeyer threw the final five innings to earn the victory. She allowed three runs (none earned) on five hits. She walked eight and struck out five.

Katzenmeyer was the only Lady Buckaroo with more than one hit. Seven different Lowry players had one hit.

Fernley leads the Northern 3A at 20-1 and would have to lose all three games to Elko in order for Lowry (18-3) to win the regular season title. Churchill County (13-5) is in third place. Dayton (14-6), Elko (11-10) and Spring Creek (7-11) round out the final playoff spots.

Lowry closes the regular season this week at home against Truckee, starting at 4 p.m. on Thursday. The two squads play a doubleheader on Friday at 11 a.m.