All that work on going with the pitch in batting practice finally paid off for Lindsay Farnworth and the Carson High School softball team.
Farnworth's first hit of the day was clutch, an off-field, tie-breaking home run with two outs in the fifth inning to help lead the Senators to a 7-3 victory at home against North Valleys in the second game of a Sierra League doubleheader Saturday afternoon.
Carson rallied from an early 3-1 deficit to salvage a split of the twin-bill after North Valleys won the opener, 7-3. The split was no small achievement because North Valleys was in position to gain the tie-breaker advantage against Carson for playoff consideration.
Carson is 5-2 in league (6-2 overall). North Valleys is 1-5 (4-6 overall), but has already played high-powered Wooster, Douglas and Reno and the Panthers have yet to play at home this season.
"We did what we had to do, come out of here with a split," Carson coach John Sullivan said. "Now we have to play hard and try to take the third game from them when we play up there (in Reno)."
Nicole Ellis pitched a six-hitter and struck out 10 to win the opener for North Valleys. In game two, Ellis came on to pitch in relief in the fourth inning and was locked in a 3-3 duel with Carson's Amanda Carvin before the Senators broke through to score four runs.
Farnworth had been hitless in six previous at-bats on the day. On her seventh trip to the plate, Farnworth drove a 1-0 pitch over the right-center field fence.
"It was outside, we've been working all week on going the other way and I went with it," Farnworth said. "I'd been struggling, mostly I had been trying to pull everything and I was 0-for-the-day, so that was very uplifting."
Uplifting for the entire Carson squad.
"Farny's home run really gave us a lift," said Lindsey Perondi, who was 1-for-1 with two walks and two runs scored in the second game. "After she hit the home run, everybody had a lot more confidence."
Perondi came up after the home run and drew a walk. Bethany Henry followed with a single and Heather Diamond drove both runners home when she grounded a base hit up the middle. Diamond scored moments later on Kelli Cahill's double to give Carson a 7-3 lead.
The Senators scored twice in the fourth to tie the game when Perondi walked, Henry tripled and Diamond followed with a single. Diamond was left stranded with the potential go-ahead run when Ellis came on to pitch in relief of Jessica Cloutier and struck out the next three batters.
"I was real concerned after that," Sullivan said. "I gathered the girls together between innings and we talked about how she was throwing her drop ball away. I said they needed to move closer to the plate and move up in the box to be closer to the pitcher."
Carvin walked one batter in the sixth, but avoided further damage, and then retired the side in order in the seventh, aided by Liz Rankl's nice catch on a sharp line drive toward second base. Carvin pitched a six-hitter, struck out six and walked three to earn the win.
In game one, Carvin pitched four innings of two-hit ball and took a 1-0 lead to the fifth before the Panthers scored four runs. Courtney Van Ronk, Krista Austin and Cloutier hit doubles to trigger the rally. Van Ronk.
Carson answered with two runs in the bottom half of the fifth to cut the North Valleys lead to 4-3, but Van Ronk homered off reliever Ambir Rackley to lead off the sixth to give the Panthers some breathing room.
"We wanted to sweep them. After the first one, we knew we needed to come back," Farnworth said.
"That (loss) got us shook up," Perondi said. "When we came back for the second game, we were up and ready to play."
The Senators face an important week coming up as they host Reno on Tuesday, then visit Douglas on Friday and host three-time defending state champion Wooster on Saturday.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Kelsey Sweet and Jessica Grant turned in complete game pitching performances to help Carson sweep North Valleys, 11-1 and 7-4.
Sweet allowed 11 hits in the opener but only one run as she struck out eight and walked one. Grant struck out six and walked one in game two.
Char Knaak was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer in the first game. Jessica Ashbaugh was 2-for-3 with a double and three stolen bases, plus she played well defensively at shortstop.
Carson erased a 2-0 deficit with four runs in the fourth inning. Samantha Sifuentes hit a key double in the inning.