Carson softball heads toward tourney win

SPARKS - After claiming the Fred Davidson Tournament in Las Vegas earlier in the week, the Carson High School softball team made strides toward winning its second major tourney of the week by defeating Manogue 16-1 and Lassen (Susanville, Calif.) 3-2, on Friday on the first day of the Reed Easter Tournament.

The Senators will play Fallon this morning at 10 a.m. A win against the Greenwave would advance Carson into the tournament's quarterfinals at 1 p.m. To win the championship, Carson would have to win four games today - a tough task for a team that has already played - and won - eight games this week.

"We played well, but not as well as we did in Vegas," said Carson coach John Sullivan on the team's performance. "Everyone is pretty tired. We seemed to have left most of our energy in Vegas. But hopefully everyone will be rested for (Saturday)."

Melissa Stone picked up the complete-game victory for the Senators in their opening game against the 3A Miners. She struck out 10 batters and walked only one.

Chrissy Joseph and Brandi Cotroneo each recorded four hits for Carson against Manogue. Joseph was 4-for-5 with a double, two triples and three RBIs and Cotroneo was 4-for-5 with a double and four RBIs.

Nicole Freeman, who won five of Carson's six games in Las Vegas, picked up yet another win in the Senators' one-run game with the Grizzlies. She struck out 10 Lassen batters and didn't allow a walk.

Carson scored all three of its runs with two-out in the first inning as the Senators strung together four consecutive hits. Freeman started the offensive explosion with a double and Kellie Karasek then hit another double to score Freeman. Joseph and Padilla then followed with singles to give Carson a 3-0 lead.

Lassen scored in the bottom of the seventh to cut the Carson lead to 3-2, but the Senators got out of the inning to remain one of the tournament's unbeaten teams.