Hopefully, the Fernley High softball team won't have to worry about a ball rolling under the fence at the NIAA 3A State Championships.
With what looks to be an even four-team field, an experienced Vaquero team appears to have just as good of a chance as any of the other clubs to make a run at the state title. Fernley will open the state playoffs at noon Friday against Southern 3A champion Pahrump Valley at Reno's Rancho San Rafael Park. In the other game, Northern 3A champion Manogue will open with Spring Creek, which upset No. 2 seeded Lowry to advance to state.
Fernley will likely need a little more luck than it had when it hosted Manogue in a doubleheader earlier in the year if it's to make a state-title run. Manogue swept Fernley, but both games were close.
The loss in the opener was especially frustrating. The Vaqueros trailed 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning and had the bases loaded with two outs when Amanda Renslow hit what appeared to be a game-winning, three-run double.
But the ball rolled under the fence for a groundrule double and only two runs scored. Manogue went on to win in 12 innings.
Fernley's doubleheader with Manogue and its Northern 3A playoff series with Dayton typified how even the Northern 3A has been this year. The Vaqueros won the series against Dayton 2-1 with all three games being decided by one run.
Walita Cuerta pitched all 27 innings in the series for Fernley while Nicole Greer pitched all 28 innings for Dayton. Cuerta and Greer were backed by outstanding defense.
"Some of the plays they were making were incredible, things we haven't seen all year," Fernley coach Diane Chapin said about her team. "The defenses on both teams were doing anything they could. It was good softball."
Fernley has an experienced team with eight seniors, six of whom played as sophomores on a team that advanced to the state tournament in 2002.
Chapin said Cuerta could be counted on to pitch the entire state tournament if needed. "I think she could do it," Chapin said.
Chapin said she asked Cuerta if she was up to pitching the third game against Dayton. "She said, 'I want the ball,'" Chapin said.
If Cuerta needs help, Chapin will go to freshman Heather Mathews. "We don't have a dominant pitcher," Chapin said. "I have two pitchers that throw well."
Among Fernley's offensive leaders is shorstop Kaylea Dunn, who bats second behind leadoff hitter Brittany Stovall, who plays third. Renslow hits third and Cuerta hits fourth. The rest of the tentative lineup set for Friday is Mathews, hitting fifth and playing first, catcher Nikki Wheeler, sixth, centerfielder Quinn Hull-Taylor, seventh, rightfielder Leeann Shaw, eighth, and second baseman C.J. Andrews, ninth.
Hillary Wortman and Hannah Keller have also seen a great deal of time in the outfield and Lysanna Davis provides depth at first and third. Along with Stovall, infielder Amber Daggett provides Fernley with speed and is used frequently as a courtesy runner.
Fernley scored just five runs in three games against Dayton. "We were putting the ball in play," Chapin said. "I would like to see some more hits come together."
Pahrump went unbeaten in the Southern 3A. Chapin said the scouting report on Pahrump is it's a team comparable to the top teams in the Northern 4A with solid, but not dominant pitching.
Contact Charles Whisnand at cwhisnand@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1214.
