The Lowry High School softball squad came home last weekend and laid down the law to Elko with a 13-0 blowout in their first game of the series.
Mackenzie Salas-Begay needed only 61 pitches in her two-hit shutout of Elko.
“On Friday the girls came out fired up and played well, they knew the importance of the game,” said Lowry softball coach Austin Mayo. “They hit the ball well, everyone fielded well, and Mac pitched well. When we are clicking on all cylinders we are kinda hard to beat.”
The Lady Bucks scored two runs in the first inniug, four in the second and they added another six runs in the third inning, while holding the Indians scoreless in the five inning contest.
Kelcey Cooper went 3-for-4 with a home run to boot on Friday while scoring three runs.
Freshman Bailey Hayes was 2-for-4 at the plate and scored three runs as well.
Sierra Maestrejuan went 2-for-4, and Sydney Connors and Alexus Gomez were both 2-for-3.
On Saturday, Lowry had to play all seven innings to take out Elko 16-9, and several Lady Bucks came up huge.
“Today was senior day which brings a lot of emotions," Mayo said. "It is tough for these younger girls to adjust to that and play their last home game with them. I thought we did a pretty good job of keeping those kind of things in check and just playing the game.”
The game was tied 3-3 at the end of the first inning, but Lowry kept the pressure on as the game wore on.
The Lady Bucks scored one run in the bottom of the second and added five more runs in the third to take charge of the game.
The Indians scored four runs in the top of the sixth to make it an 11-9 game, but Connors had other plans for the ending.
She cracked a grand-slam home run to cap a 3-for-4, six-RBI performance that also included a triple.
Salas-Begay went 4-for-4 with three doubles in the contest, and she also got the win by pitching the final four innings for the Lady Bucks.
“We were never really in trouble; it may have seemed that way," Mayo said. "They got within two runs, but we answered back in the bottom of the inning and got all four back.”
Lowry’s league record is now 13-3 which moves them into second place in the Northern 3A.
Fernley (16-0) is guaranteed the No. 1 seed in the Northern 3A Regional Championships.
Elko dropped to 12-4 after the weekend in Winnemucca and most likely will get the third seed. The top two seeds receive a first round bye in the playoffs.
Churchill County (Fallon) (9-5), Dayton (9-7), North Valleys (6-10), Spring Creek (5-10), Sparks (4-11), South Tahoe (2-13) and Truckee (0-13) round out the rest of the Northern 3A. The top six teams will make the regional playoffs on May 9-11 in Elko.
“I am pretty sure that sweeping Elko locked us into the No. 2 seed," Mayo said. "But we are not letting our foot off the gas going into Truckee. We plan on playing sharp and focused and getting out of there with two wins.”
The regular season concludes for the Lady Bucks this weekend at Truckee.
The NIAA State Championships will be held May 16-18 at Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite.
