It was a clash of the softball titans. Last Tuesday (April 19), Pershing County hosted Yerington for the first of a three-game-series. Yerington won (7-4).
The competitors finished up in Yerington this past Saturday with Lovelock dropping both games 12-2 and 10-0.
Each team began the series undefeated in the 2A. Both rank at the top of the league.
The Lions are the defending regional champions.
All week, the cold and wind added more obstacles, acting like another opponent. The players threw on their jackets and went to work.
On Tuesday, April 19, the Mustangs scored four runs off five hits.
“Both of my freshmen (Raegan Burrows and Aaliyah Allen), Anna Happy and Kaylen Halverson got beautiful hits,” said Jordan McKinney. Burrows, Halverson and Allen each had a hit. Happy went two for three at the plate.
“Anna had a great three-game series both on defense and offense,” said McKinney. Taylor Garland pitched and Allen caught.
The Mustangs fought like wildcats in the seventh inning, scoring three of their four runs but it wasn’t enough.
The teams finished the series in Yerington on Saturday.
In the first game, Lovelock scored their two runs in the second inning. Meanwhile, Yerington had a big second inning with six runs.
Lovelock struggled to catch up. In the closing game, Yerington blanked Pershing.
“On Saturday, all of the girls put the ball in play at least once but unfortunately a lot of them were right to the defense,” said Mckinney. “But we learned a lot of what we need to work on heading into zone. We will be seeing Yerington again in the zone tournament.”
Last year Lovelock hosted the zone tournament over a cold, rainy weekend in late May. The 2021 season had lasted only six weeks. There was no state championship tournament.
Pershing County started off by beating Incline 17-7. But Yerington knocked the Mustangs out of the race by blanking them 13-0.
From there it was all about Yerington, Battle Mountain and Silver Stage. The Nighthawks slammed Battle Mountain 12-2, knocking them out of the contest.
The championship round pitted Yerington against Silver Stage. Yerington pulled off the win 14-7 and collected the zone championship.
Lovelock is determined to take it from them this year. They’ll have their chance at West Wendover High School next month.
On Tuesday, April 26, Pershing hosted Battle Mountain (9-3) for the first of a three-game series. Results were not available at press time.
They’ll finish in Battle Mountain on Saturday at 10 a.m. and noon.
