MINDEN -- A little bit of positive thinking went a long way for the Carson High School softball team on Friday afternoon.
The Senators returned to the same field where they struck out 16 times and were shutout in their season opener and turned the tables on arch rival Douglas for a 7-2 Sierra League victory. Carson scored six runs in its last two at-bats to break open a close struggle in a performance that was vastly improvement from its season-opening 6-0 loss on March 13 at Douglas.
"It was great," said Liz Rankl, who had two hits and drove in three runs for the Senators. "We haven't beaten them in three years, so we wanted this. We came out ready to play today."
For Carson, there was carryover from its 3-0 win against Reno on Tuesday.
"We've been talking to the kids all week about believing in themselves," Carson coach John Sullivan said. "We told them that they're capable of playing up a level and playing with the good teams. Hopefully, if they have the right stuff on the right day, they can beat those teams, and I think the power of positive attitude showed today."
Carson (7-2, 6-1 league) now stands second in the league. Douglas (6-4, 5-4) dropped to fourth, but is still regarded as one of the top teams in the North.
"Give Carson credit. They came out ready to play and we didn't," Douglas coach Rick Smith said. "We had our chances. We just made too many errors, and the bottom line was, we didn't hit the ball like we're capable of. You've got to give Mandy credit for keeping our girls off balance."
Mandy Carvin, who pitched a four-hit shutout against Reno three days before, was equally effective against the Tigers. The sophomore right-hander allowed four hits and three walks, and the only earned run she gave up came on Kayla Dunn's solo home run in the sixth inning.
"She was throwing great," catcher Ariadne Gonzalez said. "She was hitting her spots."
Douglas starter Brittany Puzey deserved a better fate, as the sophomore right-hander allowed seven hits and one walk in her first extensive outing of the season. She only allowed one unearned run on hit through five innings. The Tigers committed four errors overall.
"This was the first time she's really thrown all season," Smith said of Puzey, who had been nursing a pulled quad muscle for the past week. "She probably got a little tired there at the end, but she needed to pitch. We're going to need all three of our pitchers at the end of the season."
Katie Pagen, who struck out 16 when Douglas defeated Carson two weeks ago, pitched the distance in a 3-0 win against Fallon on Thursday.
Carson took a 1-0 lead after Gonzalez led off the game with a single and scored on a two-out error. Gonzalez took third base on Lindsey Perondi's ground out and scored on the play when a throw to third base was misplayed.
Douglas left runners stranded in scoring position in the first, third and fourth innings. Carvin got a called strike-three to end the fourth with a runner on third. Also, Rankl turned a line drive catch into a double play to end the second inning.
The Tigers tied the score in the fifth when Stevie Smith reached on an error and pinch runner Missy Kaplan dashed home from second base when Kaycee Wilcks' two-out ground ball was misplayed.
"I was a little nervous after we made those two errors, but that didn't seem to bother the kids because they came right back," Sullivan said.
Carson answered with two runs in the sixth. Kaitie Vidovich reached on an error, advanced to second on a sacrifice by Gonzalez and scored when Rankl lined a single into right. Rankl scored moments later when Lindsay Farnworth doubled off the fence in right-center.
Dunn blasted a line drive over the left-center field fence to cut Carson's lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Pagen followed with a two-out double, but Carvin ended the threat on a grounder to Rankl at second base.
The Senators four insurance runs in the seventh. Heather Diamond singled and went all the way to third when the ball was misplayed. Natalie Mandoki followed with an RBI single, Vidovich walked, Gonzalez singled to drive another run home and Rankl followed with a two-run double into the left-center field gap.
Carson hosts three-time defending state champion and Oregon State-bound pitcher Brianne McGowan today in a doubleheader that begins at 10 a.m.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Douglas 5, Carson 4
Douglas scored once in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie and win the extra inning contest.
Kelsey Sweet pitched the distance for Carson, allowed five hits and no walks and registered 11 strikeouts. Sweet, Jamie Yenter and Ashley Miller had two hits each for the Senators.
