Carson pitcher Lauren Lemburg fires one to a James Logan High batter Friday at Shadow Mountain Sports Complex. The Senators lost the game 7-0.
SPARKS — For five innings, Carson High’s girls softball team went toe-to-toe with perennial North Coast Section powerhouse James Logan, battling the Colts to a scoreless tie.
The roof, however, caved in on the young Senators in the sixth inning. Logan scored five times in the sixth and once in the seventh en route to a 6-0 victory at the Reed Easter Tournament at Shadow Mountain Softball Complex Friday afternoon.
The Senators went 0-3 on the day, losing 11-0 to Reno, and 9-3 to North Valleys. Carson plays today at 8 a.m. and 9:30.
“We played clean softball for four innings,” coach Shane Quilling. “We had a couple of errors. We easily could have been out of the inning only down 1-0. We’re not strong enough to overcome mistakes.”
Adriana Sanchez led off the fifth with a single to left off freshman lefty Lauren Lemburg. Deanne Garza followed with a potential double play groundball to second base. Nicole Brown overran the spinning groundball, and all runners were safe. Michaela Burpee followed with a hard single off the glove of Makenzie Tucker, scoring Sanchez with the game’s first run.
Jordan Davis forced Garza at third, and Kristen Kowaki’s sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third. Lacey Sandoval lined a two-run single to left to make it 3-0. After an error on Tucker, the Colts tacked on two more runs on a single by Brianna Bailad to make it 5-0.
Logan tacked on an unearned run in the seventh when Garza singled and raced to third when centerfielder Sarah Runge let the ball get by her. She scored on a hit by Kowaki.
Carson managed just two hits, one each by Runge and Terryn Earle, off righty JoJo Patino, who fanned six an didn’t walk a better.
Lemburg, who allowed 11 hits, certainly deserved a better fate. She stranded runners at second in the first and survived a one-out triple in the fifth. Had it not been for the error and a bad break on the spinning ball to Brown, it could have been different.
Also, Bailad should not have been allowed to hit in the inning because she had served as a courtesy runner in the sixth, according to the CHS scorekeeper. According to ASA rules, you can’t serve as a courtesy runner and pinch-hit in the same half inning. Take away her hit, and it’s a 3-0 game.
“Lauren pitched great,” Quilling said. “She pitched well enough to win. It easily could have been a 1-0 game.”
The day got off to a rocky start against Reno.
The Huskies scored four in the second and six in the third. Morgan Eisele tripled in two runs in the second and doubled home three in the third. Makena Young doubled home two runs in the third.
Carson managed just one hit, a Bailey Allen single in the third.
The game was erroneously stopped after three innings because the umpire thought four innings had been played. The tournament rules were 10 after four and 8 after five in terms of reasons to stop the game early.
Against North Valleys, Carson made six errors which led to five runs. The game was stopped after five innings because of the time limit.
“We played hard,” Quilling said. “We just made too many mistakes. Tucker pitched the last game, and threw pretty well.”
Allen led the offense, going 3-for-3 with an inside-the-park homer and two RBI. Elise Brady went 2-for-3. Runge, Penelope Eisenhower, Lemburg and Tucker each had a hit.
