Douglas softball routs South Tahoe

MINDEN -- After playing two of the lesser-talented teams in the league, it's time for Douglas High School's softball team to get back to serious work.

Douglas routed South Tahoe 18-0 Tuesday afternoon, stretching its Sierra League winning streak to three straight. Douglas has outscored its last two league foes (Hug and South Tahoe) 56-0 in that span.

"The last three games have been kind of tough," Douglas coach Rick Smith said. "We have four tough ones coming up (Fallon on Thursday, Carson on Friday and Bishop Manogue). We beat Fallon last year early, and then they beat us here (2-1). I think the girls are looking forward to it.

"It will be my job tomorrow to get them ready. I told the girls that we have to get back to work. It was nice, again, to get a lot of the girls in. It's good for them. Now they'll be ready if somebody gets injured later in the year."

Douglas struck early, scoring three runs off Libby Bigelow in the first inning.

Kaycee Wilcks and Val Smith both walked, and hard-hitting Kayla Dunn drove them both in with a triple to right field. Dunn scored moments later on a passed ball.

The Tigers tacked on another run in the second, as Cheryl Nicoll tripled and scored on Devon Bateman's squeeze bunt.

Douglas collected six hits, and South Tahoe made four errors, leading to a nine-run inning and a 13-0 lead for the Tigers (4-3 in league) after three.

Kristi Olsen drove in two of the runs, while Dunn, Stevie Smith, Missy Kaplan, Val Smith and Wilcks drove in one run each.

Meanwhile, Dunn was having her way with South Tahoe hitters. She retired the first 10 hitters before Missy Lucero doubled to center. Dunn fanned six in her four innings of work, giving way to Stevie Smith, who pitched a scoreless fifth.

Douglas closed out the game with four more in the fifth, and the Vikings helped the cause with two errors.

Dunn led the Tigers with a 4-for-4 and four-RBI effort, while Cassie Smith went 2-for-3 and Val Smith 2-for-2.

BASEBALL

Galena 8, Douglas 4

Galena scored five runs in the first three innings, and Douglas never recovered in a nonleague game.

The loss dropped Douglas to 5-6 overall heading into Friday's home game against Bishop Manogue and a Saturday doubleheader at Fallon.

Jake Nielsen, Marc Walling, Austin Graham, Brandon Huff and Brandon Silveira all had two hits for the Tigers. Douglas finished the game with 10 hits.

"We got a lot of hits late," Douglas coach John Glover said. "We need to start earlier. I liked seeing them battle at the end."

Glover was referring to the seventh when Douglas scored a run and had the bases loaded when Huff hit into a game-ending double play.

Glover was pleased with the pitching effort of reliever Bryan Miller, who allowed only one earned run over the final five innings.

JUNIOR VARSITY BASEBALL

Douglas 9, Galena 1

Brian Webb struck out six over five innings, allowing one run on five hits to pick up the win for the Douglas junior varsity baseball team (9-2). Tyson Estes finished up, record all six of his outs in the last two innings by strikeout while allowing no runs on one hit.

Chad Walling went 3-for-4 with two triples and two RBIs, Jeff Young went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, Brian Brady and Cory Hartzell both were 2-for-4 with an RBI and Daren Brady and Spike Agosta each added a hit for Douglas.