RENO — After being down to its final strike three times in the regional tournament before coming back to rally to make the state championships, losing the first game of the NIAA 3A State Championships to Boulder City showed no affects on the Lowry High School softball team.
Even though the Lady Bucks out-hit the Eagles 10-7 in Thursday’s opening semifinal, those hits were here and there and could not provide the rally Lowry needed. The Lady Bucks left 11 runners on base in the 5-0 loss to the Southern 3A champion.
The Lady Bucks used consecutive hits from Kelcey Cooper and Kyllie Sappington in the first inning to start a rally in the first inning, nothing materialized. That would be the story of the day for Lowry.
Boulder City jumped on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning and scored its first run without a ball leaving the infield.
The Eagles led off with an infield single and the next batter reached on a fielder’s choice. After a passed ball and two ground outs, the Eagles led 1-0. A two-out double, was the first ball out of the infield and provided a 2-0 advantage.
Lowry rallied again in the third inning, as Alyssa Kuskie led off with a single and Cooper reached on an error. The rally stalled out with the next two batters but Madi McClellan followed with a single but Kuskie was called out at the plate for the third out of the inning.
Boulder City added to the lead in the third inning on a two-run home run by Lily Osman. Ellie Ramsey added a RBI-double later in the frame to account for the scoring. The Eagles had just had one hit in the final three innings.
Sydney Connors and Kuskie each had two hits for The Lady Bucks.
Sylvie Prokasky went the distance in the circle but suffered the loss. She allowed five runs on seven hits. She struck out three and walked none.
Lowry shuts out
Pahrump Valley
Lowry began its quest back through the loser’s bracket on its way to the championship game with an 8-0 win over Pahrump Valley on Friday morning at Reno High School.
Prokasky scattered five hits throughout seven innings to earn the victory. The senior struck out two and walked one. The match-up was a pitcher’s duel through five innings, when the Lady Bucks scored six times in the sixth inning.
Lowry scored once in the fourth inning, as Kyllie Sappington led off with walk, The inning could have been bigger but Connors was thrown out at the plate after a single by McClellan.
The Lady Bucks went up 2-0 in the fifth inning after a double by Sierra Maestrejuan and a single by Prokasky to help herself out.
Lowry broke the game open in the sixth inning after three consecutive singles by Connors, McClellan and Bailey Sapien to load the bases. Maestrejuan followed with a two-RBI double to increase the lead to 5-0 and Prokasky added a RBI-single to push the margin to 5-0. Sappington followed with a single for the final run of the game.
Lowry pounded put 13 hits, with Maestrejuan pacing the team with three. Kuskie, Connors, McClellan and Prokasky each had two hits.
Lowry blasts Boulder City
Lowry was back on the field later Friday night to take on Boulder City for a second time. Boulder City lost to Churchill County, dropping them to the elimination game against the Lady Bucks.
Lowry did not let its chances slip away in the second meeting, jumping out to 1-0 lead in the second inning. Connors led off the frame with a double and later scored on a ground out by Maestrejuan. The Lady Bucks increased the lead to 2-0 in the fourth inning after back-to-back singles by Connors and McClellan and a ground out by Sapien.
Lowry decided to use the long ball in the fifth and sixth innings to break the game open. Connors hit a grand slam in the fifth inning to put Lowry up 6-0 and Sappington hit a three-run home run in the sixth push the advantage to 10-0.
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Connors led Lowry with three hits and Kuskie, Cooper and McClellan each had one hit.
Prokasky threw just 76 pitches in the complete-game victory. She allowed two runs (none earned) on four hits. She struck out two and walked one.
Lowry drops heartbreaker in title game
The championship game was a familiar one as Lowry took on Churchill County in a rematch of the regional title contest. The two schools also played in the last two state basketball championships.
The Lady Bucks needed to beat the Greenwave twice to win the championship and were on their way to doing that until the wheels fell off in the sixth inning.
Prokasky held Churchill County to one hit in the first five innings and allowed just three base runners.
Lowry left the bases loaded in the first and produced no runs but got on the board in the fifth inning. Cooper and Sappington reached on back-to-back singles and Connors reached base on an error. The Lady Bucks looked to break the game open but McClellan’s line drive was caught in right field. Lowry got on the board one batter later on a walk to Sapien.
Prokasky retired the first two batters in the sixth inning, when Stacy Kalt doubled. The Greenwave tied the game a batter later when a ground ball by Faith Cornmesser got through the legs of McClellan at third base. Macie Anderson followed with a single to score Cornmesser. A second error led to the third run after a double by Aspen Mori.
Lowry did not go quietly in the seventh but mistakes proved costly once again. Cooper led off the frame with a walk but was thrown out at second base on a stolen base attempt. Moments later Sappington singled to left field. Connors followed with base hit and with two outs, Sapien reached base on an error.
Down to the final strike again, Maestrejuan singled to left field to score Sappington but on the play, Connors rounded third base to far and the throw from left field back to third base was in time to get Connors out and end the season for Lowry.
Sappington (three) and Maestrejuan (two) combined for five of Lowry’s eight hits.
Prokasky suffered the loss as all three runs allowed were unearned. She gave up four hits and struck out two.
The Lady Bucks lose four seniors in Sappington, Prokasky, Kuskie and Sapien. Lowry finished the year 26-10. That is the most wins since Lowry went 26-13 in 2013.
