Confidence and relaxation were major concerns for coach John Sullivan Tuesday afternoon before the Carson High School softball team took the field to play Reno. Understandable, because the Huskies are regarded as one of Northern Nevada's top teams behind Stanford-bound Jackie Rinehart.
The Senators came out and showed they were up to the challenge.
Mandy Carvin pitched four-hit ball and was backed by a flawless defense, and Lindsay Farnworth slugged a two-run homer in the sixth inning to supply insurance for the Senators in their 3-0 victory at home against the Reno Huskies.
"Coming in, I thought the girls might be intimidated by Jackie, but they were real relaxed and they really rose to the occasion," Sullivan said as he flashed a smile. "This was a big W for us. This really helps us in our goal of getting to the playoffs."
Carson took over second-place in the Sierra League with its 5-2 record (6-2 overall), while Reno slipped to 3-2 (10-4).
"It's a tough loss for us," Reno coach Jim Pace said. "We had opportunities, but we didn't get the hits when we needed them. We're a better hitting team than this, but give credit to their pitcher."
Carvin was impressive, as the sophomore right-hander scattered four hits and two walks. Reno had runners aboard in six of the seven innings and had three get as far as third base on a day when the Senators committed no errors.
It was a big step up from Saturday, when Carvin had to settle for a split of two games against North Valleys. The Senators gave up six errors in the doubleheader.
"Mandy didn't throw very well in the first game against North Valleys. She got beat up a little, so we talked between games about trying to be smarter than the hitters and throw pitches they're not expecting," Sullivan said. "I think she did that today; she moved the ball inside and outside and mixed in her change well."
Carvin registered seven strikeouts, and all came in important situations.
Rinehart, a speedy leadoff hitter who signed with Stanford in November, walked to lead off the game and stole her way to third base but was left stranded when Carvin rang up called strike-three pitches against the next three hitters. In the third, Carvin struck out the first two batters she faced on full-count pitches, which proved important when Rinehart tripled. The threat ended moments later on a ground ball to shortstop Heather Diamond.
Carvin allowed a leadoff walk in the fourth, then after a sacrifice bunt advanced the runner, she got a swinging third strike on a 2-2 changeup pitch. In the fifth, Kari Cantrell tripled with one out, but Carvin got another strikeout and Henry ran down a long fly ball in center field to end the threat.
Carson broke the ice in the third inning when Ariadne Gonzalez reached on an infield hit and advanced to third when Liz Rankl's sacrifice bunt was misplayed for an error. Gonzalez scored moments later on the tail end of a double steal.
Then in the sixth, Lindsey Perondi singled to center and Farnworth slugged a high fly ball over the left field fence for a home run.
"Her swing was mechanically sound where she turned on the ball and got her hips into it. That was a good hit," Sullivan said.
The Senators were solid defensively in the last two innings. Kara Kroll doubled for Reno with one out in the sixth, but that's as far as she got as Diamond caught a pop fly down the left field line then charged a slow roller toward shortstop and made the throw to Farnworth at first for the final out. Stephanie Shuman singled in Reno's seventh, but the game ended as right fielder Kaitie Vidovich tracked down two long fly balls down the right field line.
"Those were both tough catches," Sullivan said of Vidovich. "We were pretty concerned because we didn't want Rinehart coming up with two runners on base."
Rinehart pitched a complete game five-hitter for the Huskies, struck out eight and walked none.
Notes ... Pace, who is in his second season as Reno's varsity coach, formerly served as an assistant for the baseball program at UNLV and played summer ball for Ron McNutt's Carson Capitols between 1979 and '82. ... The Senators travel to Douglas for another key league game on Friday, then come back on Saturday to host three-time defending state champion Wooster and Oregon State-bound pitcher Brianne McGowan.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Carson 14, Reno 13
Ashley Miller hit 5-for-5 with four RBIs and came up with a key defensive play in the sixth inning to help the Senators hang on for their win.
Carson held early leads of 5-0 and 12-5, but saw the advantage cut to one run after Reno scored six runs in the sixth inning. The third out came on a throw from Samantha Sifuentes in left field to shortstop Jessica Ashbaugh, who relayed a strike to Miller at the plate to cut down the potential tying run.
Earlier in the same inning, Jamie Yenter survived a collision with the batter on a pop fly at first base. Yenter cracked a tooth in the collision, but held on to the ball for the out.
Kelsey Sweet hit 3-for-4 with two RBIs and also caught a long fly ball to center field to end the game with two Reno runners on base in the seventh inning. Simone Kuckenmeister also hit 3-for-4 with two RBIs for the Senators.
