After watching the Yerington High School softball team sweep Dayton in a doubleheader 10-0, 15-3 on Saturday, Lion coach Rod Rundle could rest easy for the remainder of the weekend.
Rundle, who claims he still has insomnia resulting from Yerington's loss to Dayton in the 1999 3A Division II semifinals, saw his Lions (8-0 division, 13-2-2 overall) completely dominate the Dust Devils (3-2, 15-3) in the showdown between the two undefeated Division II teams from Lyon County.
"We hit the ball extremely well, and the kids played great and made all the defensive plays," said Rundle, whose team went the entire doubleheader without committing an error.
Rundle remained cautious when commenting on Yerington's chance of reaching the state tournament this year.
"I feel we're better than we were last year," Rundle said. "But we're right where we were last year. After beating Dayton twice last year, they came back at division and knocked us off. So we've still got some work ahead of us."
One major advantage Yerington displayed over Dayton was the Lions' depth of pitching. While Jennifer Dillie pitched all 13 innings for Dayton on Saturday, the Lions went with Sherry Conway in the opener and Amy Sceirine in the nightcap. While Dillie seemed to tire in the second game, both Conway and Sceirine remained effective during their appearances.
"I felt we had a little advantage coming in because we have two quality pitchers," Rundle said. "As tough as (Dillie) is, it's tough to throw as hard in the second game."
Conway gave Dayton trouble on both the mound and at the plate throughout the doubleheader. In addition to limiting Dayton to two hits in Yerington's opening-game shutout, she was 5-for-10 batting with two doubles, two triples and five RBIs.
"We figured in our heads we should win the games, and we played like we were supposed to," said the senior right-hander. "We have a great team and everyone can hit the ball. We think we can beat Manogue (for the division title)."
Other top hitters for Yerington during the doubleheader included: Annalee Hatcher, 6-for10, two doubles, four RBIs; Michelle Sinclair, 6-for-10, five runs scored; and Mindy Foley, 5-for-8 with a triple and RBI.
Cayla Reese had Dayton's only extra-base hit of the day, a triple in the second game.
Yerington led only 1-0 through three innings of the first game before breaking through with six runs in the fourth to pull away from the Dust Devils.
The momentum the Lions created from the first game carried over to the second game, as Yerington scored five runs in the first and never looked back.
Dillie, after surrendering only 43 hits in Dayton's first 17 games, gave up 35 hits to Yerington during the course of the doubleheader. Dillie did not receive much help from her defense, though, as the Dust Devils committed six errors in the first game and seven in the second.
"Yerington totally outplayed us and they deserved to win," said Dayton coach Jeanne Utterback, offering no excuses for the Dust Devils' poor outing. "The majority of our mistakes were mental ones."
Yerington hosts Coleville in a non-division game on Tuesday at 3 p.m.; Fernley plays at Dayton in another non-division game on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
