The Lowry High School softball team hosted Churchill County (Fallon) on Tuesday and evened up the score from a 9-7 loss to the Greenwave the week before with a 9-2 win.
Mackenzie Salas-Begay gave up a lead-off home run to Aspen Mori in the first at bat of the game, but she maintained composure and proceeded to shut down Churchill County.
“Mac responded well to that leadoff homer against her," said LHS coach Austin Mayo. "She struck the next two out of three batters out. This is a game of failures, things are going to go against you, it is about how you respond when they do. The girls played really well. It was a night and day difference from last time. Fallon is a good team and they are going to be one of the teams that we have to beat. We lost to them last time, but we prepared mentally for this game and we didn’t give them anything extra.”
Sydney Connors had a homer and a triple on her way to a four-RBI performance. Sierra Maestrejuan went 4-for-4 at the plate.
“Sierra is a junior who is a leader on this team," Mayo said. "She plays a hard first base. She digs everything she can and keeps the ball in front of her. She also starts a lot of rallies for us at the plate. She has a lot of energy and is kind of the “life-force” for us on this team, we all kind of feed off of her.”
Lowry’s league record is now 11-3 which puts them in the third seed in the 3A North.
Fernley (14-0) and Elko (12-2) currently have the edge on the Lady Bucks.
Churchill County (8-4), Dayton (9-5), North Valleys (5-9), Spring Creek (4-10), Sparks (4-10), South Tahoe (1-13), and Truckee (0-12) all trail Lowry. The top six teams make the regional playoffs in Elko, with the top two seeds getting a first round bye.
“We are playing for the two seed now,” Mayo said. “We have to take at least one from Elko at home this weekend. They are going to come out ready to play. They are well-coached and they are a senior-led team, but it shouldn’t be any worry if we play the way that we can. We just want to get healthy and whole going into regionals.”
Lowry hosted Elko Friday and results of the contest were not available at press time.
They play today (Saturday) against Elko at noon.
The regular season concludes for the Lady Bucks at Truckee on May 3-4, and the Northern 3A Regional Playoffs will be held in Elko May 9-11.
The State Championships will be held May 16-18 at Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite.
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