RENO—The Reed softball team is capable of scoring runs in bunches. It didn’t do that Thursday afternoon at Damonte Ranch.
It didn’t need to. It has Julia Jensen.
The junior Nevada commit threw a complete game, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out 10 as the Raiders won 4-1 on the road.
“She’s Julia. She’s gotten some games under her belt. She’s in a groove,” Reed coach Jon Wunder said. “She does what she does.”
The Raiders mustered just seven hits as they improved to a perfect 9-0, 4-0 in DI North play. The Mustangs dropped to 4-5, 2-2.
Wunder attributed the marginal offensive outing, by Reed’s standards at least, to ho-hum approaches against Ally Young.
“I saw poor approaches at the plate,” Wunder said. “You have to wait and she (Young) is not going to throw it down the middle so she was living outside. We just didn’t do a very good job of making adjustments today.”
Young also threw a complete, wearing the loss. She allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits while fanning four. She was ultimately done in by walking six batters – two of which were leadoffs that eventually scored.
“Anytime you put a leadoff on, I don’t care if it’s us getting a leadoff or us giving leadoff, usually it results in something bad happening,” Wunder said. “So we’ll take those.”
The second leadoff walk that came around to score proved to be the game winner. With the DI North contest tied 1-1, Mackenzie Howren started the top of the fifth with a free pass. She was pinch ran for by Ali Hernandez. Two batters later, Ryia Grant plated Hernandez with a triple to the right-center gap.
Jessica Sellers followed Grant’s RBI triple with one of her own, pushing the lead to 3-1.
Grant (2-for-3, 2 RBIs, run) added an insurance run in the top of the sixth with an RBI bloop single to left.
Damonte Ranch tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second when Alex Garlock hit a two-out RBI triple to left center. Then Jensen took over. She retired 16 of the remaining 17 batters to preserve the Raiders’ perfect start to the season.
Reed, which started last season 24-0, will look to remain perfect on Saturday when it plays a doubleheader at Hug. The Hawks have not won a DI North game this year. First pitch is at 11 a.m.
Sparks swept by Spring Creek
Sparks was swept in a home doubleheader against Spring Creek on Thursday afternoon.
With the losses, the Railroaders’ season-opening losing streak reached five games. The Spartans improved to 7-5, 5-3 in the DI-A North.
The two teams will wrap up the three-game series Friday morning at 9 a.m., starting a long day for the Railroaders (0-5, 0-5). After the game, they will hop on the bus and head up to South Tahoe for a 3 p.m. game against the Vikings (2-4, 2-4).
Spring Creek 12, Sparks 9
The Railroaders and Spartans went back and forth early in Thursday’s nightcap before Spring Creek pulled out a three-run victory.
Sparks scored four times in the bottom of the first. Spring Creek fired back with seven runs in the top of the second. Sparks scored four runs, again, in the bottom of the second. Spring Creek responded with a four spot of its own in the top of the third.
After the furious start, Spring Creek led 11-7. It scored one more time in the top of the fourth to extend the lead to 12-7. The Railroaders managed a single run in the bottom of the sixth but the rally fell short.
Both team finished with 13 hits in the 21-run marathon.
Springs Creek 11, Sparks 1
Sparks was outhit 18-6 and allowed Spring Creek to score at least once in each inning of a lopsided defeat in Thursday’s first contest.
The Railroaders trailed 4-1 after scoring their only run of the game in the bottom of the second. The Spartans scored once in the third, twice in the fourth and twice in the fifth to pull away.
Both teams committed three errors.
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