Softball
Cougs walk off on Mustangs
The Cougars and Mustangs were so evenly matched on Thursday afternoon at Spanish Springs the two teams needed nine innings to decide an outcome.
After Damonte Ranch pushed one across in the top of the inning, Spanish Springs answered with two in the bottom half to walk off with a 3-2 victory.
The Cougars improved to 16-4, 7-1 one day after splitting a doubleheader at Bishop Manogue. The Mustangs sunk to 7-8, 4-5.
Freshman Alysa Micone sent everyone home with a game-winning RBI bunt single that allowed fellow freshman Hunter Travers to score from third.
“It was a great squeeze,” Spanish Springs coach Jeff Davidson said. “That inning, Alysa stepped up. I knew we were going to squeeze. We had runners on first and third, worst-case scenario we still have a runner on second.”
Rylee Retzer led off the inning with a double over the centerfielder’s head. She was sacrificed to third and scored on a wild pitch to tie the contest. Retzer struggled to corral a ball in the corner in the top of the inning, allowing the Mustangs to take a 2-1 lead.
“This was just big time,” Davidson said. “She made that error in the half inning before and came back and atoned for that and got that double. That just started things for us.”
Retzer’s double was Spanish Springs’ only extra base hit of the game.
Micone finished 2-for-5 with the game-winning RBI. Travers went 2-for-3.
Freshman Tyra Clary threw the first 4.1 innings and allowed one run on five hits. She struck out three and walked three. Mirinda Nichols took over, allowing one run over the final 4.2 innings on two hits to pick up the win. She struck out four and worked around seven walks.
Spanish Springs has Saturday off and is scheduled to host Wooster next Thursday.
Raiders hang 15 on Colts
Julia Jensen didn’t need 15 runs of support, but she got it anyway.
The senior Nevada commit threw a five-inning no hitter on Thursday at Wooster as Reed cruised, 15-0, in five innings.
Jensen recorded 13 of the Raiders’ 15 defensive outs via strikeout. She was two hit batters and an error behind her from a perfect game.
Reed improved to 15-2-1, 5-2, while Wooster remained winless at 0-13, 0-6.
The Raiders’ 15 runs were greatly aided by 10 Colt errors.
Jessica Sellers (2-for-3, double, RBI, 4 runs) and Carla Hernandez (2-for-3) were the only Raiders with multi-hit games. Sophomore Jackie Garcia (1-for-1, home run, 2 RBIs, run) went deep.
The Raiders are scheduled to play a home doubleheader against Galena on Saturday starting at 11 a.m.
Baseball
Lichty, Grizzlies steamroll Cougs
When Spanish Springs and Galena met at Greater Nevada Field three days ago, the Cougs outhit the Grizzlies 14-6, only to fall 7-4.
Roles reversed on chilly, windy Thursday afternoon at Spanish Springs. Unsurprisingly, the result was the same: A Spanish Springs loss. This, a resounding 14-4 defeat in five innings.
“That game was lot different,” first-year Spanish Springs coach Matt Ortiz said. “Today was just an unrecognizable team.”
The Cougs were outhit 15-6, committed a pair of costly errors in a game-swinging five-run third inning for the Grizzlies, and fell to 9-4, 5-3. Galena improved to 9-6, 7-1.
Galena senior second baseman Tommy Lichty hit three home runs in three-straight innings. He finished 3-for-4 with the three dingers and seven RBIs.
His first shot, a two-run blast to left center, was without question his hardest hit ball of the afternoon and keyed the five-run third that put the Grizzlies in front for good. Austin Wickham followed with a solo shot to left. The first eight batters of the inning reached safely.
During the marathon inning, a bunt was thrown down the right field line, scoring two, and a routine double play ball was dropped.
“They’re a good hitting team, but you also can’t give them things,” Ortiz said. “You can live with them getting hits, but you compound errors with mistakes … There was a just a lot wrong with how we played today.”
By the time the frame concluded, Galena morphed a 4-1 deficit to a 6-4 advantage.
The Grizzlies added three in fourth, two on a Licthy shot to right, and five more in the fifth, three on Licthy’s curtain call.
Spanish Springs’ Tanner Smith led off the bottom of the third with a double to left center. The Cougs did not manage another hit the rest of the way.
“We have to be better on the mound, on the field, at the plate,” Ortiz said. “Just everywhere.”
Joey Prizina was 1-for-2 with a two-run single in the Cougars’ four-run bottom of the second that momentarily put the home squad up 4-1.
Brandon Scheid threw a five-inning complete game for Grizzlies and was awarded the win, allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits.
Spanish Springs, now losers in three of its last four, is scheduled to play a single game at Damonte Ranch on Saturday at 11 a.m.
“I thought we were in a good place, until today,” Ortiz said. “I don’t know where we are to tell you the honest truth. It all depends with how we deal with this adversity right here.”
Raiders blanked in Minden
Reed mustered just four hits on Thursday afternoon and suffered a 3-0 loss to Douglas.
The Raiders sunk to 6-12, 3-5 in the 4A North with their fifth straight loss. The Tigers improved to 8-5, 5-3, completing the regular-season sweep of Reed.
The Tigers scored all three of their runs in the bottom of the second, the first on a sac fly and the final two on an error.
Reed will attempt to get of the schnide on Saturday when it goes to Wooster.
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