Lady Wave fights off Dayton

The Lady Wave defended its undefeated season over the weekend, sweeping Dayton in a Northern 3A home series.

The first game of Saturday’s doubleheader ended in a 10-0 sweep to Fallon. The game started off with Stacy Kalt hitting a home run, 3-0. The second inning cemented Fallon’s lead with six runs. A final run by Shelbi Schultz in the third triggered the mercy rule and ended the game two innings later.

The matinee was much closer, ending 6-4. Alexis Jarrett led off with a run in the first inning, but Dayton tied the game in the top of the second thanks to a home run by Amanda Woitas. The Lady Wave reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the inning when Rylee Buckmaster hit a double to score Macie Anderson and Lorynn Fagg. Hannah Hitchcock also scored on an RBI from Caitlyn Welch.

The lead was short-lived though, and the Lady Dust Devils tied the game again in the third inning thanks to Cassandra Dickinson and Woitas hitting RBI doubles to score Aleea McGill-Howe and Tamie Powell. Fallon’s winning lead came in the fifth inning with Welch hitting another double to score Anderson and Fagg.

“I think the girls just lost their focus a little bit,” said Fallon coach Tammie Shemenski. “That’s one of the things we have to work on, we have to bring our A game every time.”

Kayla Buckmaster was pitcher of record for both games. She played the entire first game and took the circle in the fifth inning as a substitute for Hannah Hitchcock in the second. Buckmaster struck out 12 batters between the two games while Hitchcock struck out seven.

Friday’s game was another win for Fallon, 7-3. The Wave gained an early lead thanks to runs by Faith Cornmesser and Buckmaster. Fallon took off in the fourth inning with Schultz, Welch and Jarrett scoring runs. Things started turning around in the final two innings — Dayton brought in two runs, then a third in the top of the seventh. The Wave held strong though and two runs in the sixth cemented their final score before a triple play ended the game in the seventh.

Faith Cornmesser was pitcher of record striking out seven batters. Welch and Jarrett led with two runs each while Buckmaster hit three RBI.

“What a good team,” Shemenski said of Dayton. “They battled; they stayed right there with us and made us work for it.”

The coach said she felt the team should have had a stronger showing in the series. She said Saturday’s first game showed what they can do and should strive for. Overall, she was not disappointed with the outcome of the series and felt it was a good learning experience for her players.

“Games like these are good,” Shemenski said. “It goes back to show us ‘hey it’s not always going to be easy,’ and we’ve got to work for everything … we’ve got to do it 100 percent of the time.”

She said she felt it was late in the season for some of the mistakes they made against Dayton. She hopes to get them back on track before the weekend.

This weekend the Lady Wave has its final series of the regular season as well as senior night. Fallon plays Sparks at home with Friday’s game starting at 3 p.m. and Saturday’s doubleheader playing at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Shemenski said the Sparks game would likely be similar to Dayton. She noted they have fast pitchers and strong hitters.