SPARKS — Carson High’s girls softball team went 1-2 during first-day action at the Reed Easter Tournament.
The Senators opened with a 7-1 loss to Fallon, topped Newark-Memorial 3-2 and lost to Douglas 3-0. Carson returns to action today at 8 a.m. against Fallon, and will play at least one more game after that.
“We had one real bad inning against Fallon,” Carson coach Shelby Tuttle said. “We beat them 12-1 last month and we faced the same pitcher. Fallon has improved. Our pitchers have pitched well enough to keep us in games. The key now is our hitting and getting the bats going. That’s our focus right now.”
In the five-inning win (time limit) over Newark-Memorial, Jen Purcell allowed two runs and four hits. She fanned one and walked three.
“Jen threw a good game,” Tuttle said. “We didn’t hit very well and we had a few errors.”
Malia Tiffer’s single gave Carson a 1-0 lead in the second, and Ellise McGowan made it 3-0 in the third with a two-run single. Kandis Tuttle was hit by a pitch to start the rally, and Purcell helped her own cause with a double.
Newark made it 3-2, scoring on a passed ball and a single by Megan Bravo.
Carson left a runner on third in the fifth, and Newark-Memorial had runners at second and third before Purcell retired Regan Rodriguez to end the game.
McGowan went 3-for-3, Tiffer 2-for-2 and Purcell 2-for-3 in the win.
The game against Fallon was tied at 1 after four innings. The Greenwave scored six runs off Erica Watson and Purcell in the fifth, and final inning (time limit), to win it.
Fallon pushed across an unearned run in the first, but Carson evened the game at 1 in the fourth on Michelle Perry’s two-out RBI single. Perry eventually got to second, but was stranded when Tiffer grounded out to second.
In the fifth, Watson gave up a single to Shelby Lawry, walked Gabby Sharpe and hit Kaylynn Huckaby with a pitch to load the bases. In came Purcell, and she started her stint with a strikeout. However, she gave up two walks, hit a batter and gave up a two-run single to winning pitcher Rileigh Ricken. Watson came back in and gave up a run-scoring single to Macy Myers. Another run scored on a throwing error before Watson got out of the inning.
Carson threatened in the fifth when Skye Simpson singled and moved to second when Bailey Allen reached on an error. Tuttle forced Simpson at third for the first out. Both runners moved up a base on a passed ball. Purcell followed with a comebacker, and Allen broke for home on the throw to first and was cut down at the plate.
“Erica’s velocity was wasn’t there (in the fifth),” Tuttle said. “She wasn’t hitting her spots, so we made the change. Obviously the change wasn’t any better. Offensively, we hit the ball, but we weren’t getting it through. If we keep making contact they will come.”
In the loss to Douglas, Carson managed four hits off Kaitlyn Bowman, two by Bailey Allen and one each by Michelle Perry and Rebecka Breuer.
Douglas scored one in the third and two in the fifth off Watson who gave up all three runs and eight hits.
Allison Meyer and Illiana Brown led Douglas with two hits apiece, while Katie Kluever, Makayla Shaver, Bowman and Leonna Mortimer added one each.
“They got some hits off Erica, but it was manageable,” Tuttle said. “Kaitlyn Bowman pitched a good game for Douglas.”
