Western Nevada catcher Sydney Darby catches an pitch during Friday's doubleheader.
The Western Nevada College softball team earned comeback wins in both of Friday’s doubleheader games against the College of Southern Nevada en route to a sweep of its Southern rivals, 7-5 and 6-5 at Edmonds Sports Complex.
“I’m proud of the girls for hanging in there and keeping it alive,” coach Leah Wentworth said. “They showed a lot of character, and it’s wins like this that they need to build the confidence moving forward.”
The series continues at noon and 2 p.m. today. The Associated Students of Western Nevada will host stack the stands with free snacks and T-shirts for the first 25 attendees.
In the first inning of the opener, WNC took a 2-0 lead when Jennifer Quam led off with a single up the middle and advanced to third on an error that landed Jennifer Rechel on first. Rechel then stole second, and Quam stormed home on the back end of a double steal. Rechel advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice RBI by Cara McCarthy. Andrea Lee singled, but was left stranded.
CSN tied the game with a two-run homer by Rhiana Balaun in the third. The Coyotes scored another run in the fifth to make it 3-2. In the sixth, CSN scored another run in the sixth for a 4-2 lead. Starting pitcher Ali Lostra left the game in the top of the sixth when she was hit in the face, and left the game in favor of Lexi Alley.
In the final inning, the Coyotes padded their lead with another run, but WNC came back with a vengeance.
Rechel drove in Heather Septon, who had reached on an error. After Sydney Darby singled, McCarthy drove in Rechel with a single. Lee doubled home Darby, tying the game at 5. Madison Gonzalez walked to load the bases. Alia Cox came in to run for McCarthy, and Alley won the game with a two-run double.
In the nightcap, CSN’s Destinee Chang put the Coyotes on the board with a solo homer in the second inning. WNC scored when Alisha Nielsen hit a single to score Gonzalez, who reached on a bunt single, tying the game at 1 after two innings.
CSN put up one run in the fourth and one in the fifth, making it 3-1.
Quam singled in the fifth, but was caught stealing to end the inning.
In the sixth, CSN tallied another run on a passed ball to make it 4-1, setting the stage for another big comeback by WNC.
Rechel reached on an error, and Darby followed with a single. Rechel scored on a single by McCarthy. After Lee reached on fielder’s choice, Gonzalez beat out a bunt to load the bases. Septon singled to score McCarthy, and Nielsen singled to score Lee and Gonzalez. Cox reached on an error, and Rechel scored Septon to make it 6-4.
In the final inning, CSN hit two doubles to pull with 6-5 but it was not enough.
PREP SOFTBALL
DAYTON 11, TRUCKEE 2
DAYTON — Makayla Shadle fanned 17 and pitched a 1-hitter, and Gemma Ramirez went 4-for-4 with seven stolen bases to lead the Dust Devils to an easy Division IA win Friday afternoon.
The Dust Devils host South Tahoe at 9 a.m. and Sparks at 2 p.m. today.
Shadle allowed a hit in the third inning. Only one of Truckee’s runs were earned.
“Her location was good,” Dayton coach Daven Passalacqua said. “Her curve stopped working a bit in the third or fourth. I don’t know if she got tired or complacent, but she picked it right back up.”
Dayton went up 4-0 in the first, the key hit was a three-run triple by freshman Shalia Powell, who was brought up from the JV team. Powell made it 5-0 in the third with a run-scoring double.
After Truckee scored in the top of the fourth to make it 5-1, Mallory Dickenson hit a two-run double to up the lead to 7-1. Dayton added one in the fifth and three in the sixth. Truckee scored in the seventh.
Passalacqua was pleased with Hannah Stevenson, who went 1-for-4 and dropped down two sacrifice bunts.
PREP BASEBALL
TRUCKEE 6, DAYTON 3
DAYTON — Trailing 3-0 entering the top of the seventh, the Wolverines scored six times to win the game.
The Wolverines had five hits and a walk, and the Dust Devils made one key error.
With Dayton leading 3-2, Truckee had runners at second and third with one out. The next better hit a hard groundball to third base. The Dayton third baseman knocked it down and made a good throw to first, but the first baseman lost his footing and two runs ended up scoring to give Truckee a 4-3 lead. The Wolverines scored twice more in the seventh and shut down Dayton in the bottom of the inning to make Dom Selmi a tough-luck loser.
A single by Jack Phillips and double by Marcos Saylor gave Dayton a 2-0 lead in the third. Tim Rondeaux added a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
