Fallon has momentum going into the weekend after thumping Spring Creek, 15-1, Thursday at the Edward Arciniega Athletic Complex.
“We take every game as it comes,” said first-year Fallon coach Kasey Chu. “They (Dayton) knows we’re not taking them lightly. They also want to come in third, and they’re coming after us.”
Chu said she will go with Cornmesser again, her fourth start in five games.
“I told her she will throw and throw a lot,” Chu aid. “We’ll also see how our hitting does and then make changes.
With the third win against Spring Creek, Fallon improves to 19-9 and 18-5 in the Northern 3A league, while Spring Creek drops to 9-16, 7-14. Fallon ends the regular season today at Dayton beginning with a three-game series at 3 p.m.
It’s do or die time for the Lady Spartans softball team after Spring Creek dropped its game at Fallon Thursday.
Spring Creek plays at Sparks for a weekend series with one game on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday. The winner of the series moves on to the post season.
“We need to be healthy going into this weekend because we got banged up against Fallon yesterday (Wednesday),” said Spring Creek coach Chad Nelms.
He said both Spring Creek and Sparks are comparable teams based on their scores against common opponents.
“We have lots of losses with similar scores,” Nelms said. “I don’t think we’re overmatched, but it’s who can compete and finish the job.”
After Thursday’s Fallon game, Nelms talked to his players. He told them the weekend series comes down to Spring Creek or Sparks.
“Either way for both of us is whoever wins two,” Nelms pointed out. “Our playoff begins tomorrow … whoever loses two is finished for the season.”
Spring Creek starting pitcher Nicole Southern kept Fallon off-balance in the first inning, retiring the leadoff batter before allowing an infield hit. Southern, though, threw two wild pitches, allowing Alexis Jarrett to go to third and then home for a 1-0 Fallon lead. The Spartans’ sophomore pitcher then retired Macie Anderson on a fly ball.
Greenwave starting pitcher Faith Cornmesser, who struck out seven and walked one in three innings, picked up where she left off Wednesday. She struck out the side in the first despite allowing a ground-rule double from Allie Thompson and had equal ease with Spring Creek in the top of the second.
Southern struggled, though, in the bottom half of the inning, walking the first three batters to load the bases. The Lady Wave’s Rylee Buckmaster followed with a base hit, driving in a run, and Caitlyn Welch ripped the first pitch she saw into the gap for two more RBIs and a 4-0 Fallon lead. Aspen Mori hit a sacrifice fly, and Cornmesser’s double resulted in Fallon’s sixth run.
Chu said she made some changes in the way Fallon attacked the ball.
“We adjusted after the first inning and hit the ball hard,” she added. “We’re really pumped up going into tomorrow.”
Thompson, though, also figured out Cornmesser with a single in the third inning.
Spring Creek imploded in the third inning with a combination of walks and errors as the Wave score eight runs for a 14-1 lead. With one out, three Fallon batters — Lorynn Fagg, Shelbi Schultz and Buckmaster —walked, but with the bases loaded, an outfield error allowed two runs to score, and the throw into the infield resulted in another run.
Jarrett singled in two runs for a 1-0 lead, and Anderson’s hard-hit single drove in a run. Fallon scored two more runs on a throwing error.
“We were actually into our fourth and fifth pitchers,” Nelms said. “One pitcher was on junior varsity last week. We knew we were going to run into problems with pitching today.”
Ashley Agamon saw some time on the mound for the Wave in the fourth inning. Leadoff batter Jade Conklin reached base on an error, but Agamon reared back, recording called strikes on Hailey Watson and Shawnee Walters-haas and a swinging strike three from Amie Donham.
Fallon loaded the bases in the fourth inning, but Anderson was hit by a pitch to drive in the game-ending run because of the 15-run mercy rule.
Welch led Fallon with four RBIs, while Jarrett and Anderson each had two.
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