RENO - It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Fernley and Lowry High softball teams could very well be in the same position come this time next year.
Fernley and Lowry played for the NIAA 3A State championship on Friday at Damonte Ranch with the Buckaroos coming out on top 7-4. Since Lowry had no senior starters and Fernley loses only one senior starter in Quinn Hull-Taylor, these two teams could be playing for the title next year as well.
And that would be just fine since the two teams played three competitive games this year, with Lowry winning two of the three.
"We have played them tough every time we played them," Fernley coach Diane Chapin said.
The Vaqueros advanced to the finals with a 3-1 win against Faith Lutheran thanks in large part to a heads up check of the rulebook by Chapin, which helped stop a Crusader rally in the fifth inning.
Heather Mathews was the winning pitcher and threw the first 20 innings for the Vaqueros. But things didn't go exactly as planned against Lowry as Chapin had to pull starting pitcher Jayme King in the second inning in favor of Mathews.
Mathews struck out seven over 3.1 innings, but also tired a bit as Lowry was able to build a 7-2 lead.
"She did a great job," Chapin said. "She did everything we asked her. We were hoping to get through with the second pitcher. We had to bring her in a little earlier than expected."
Still, Fernley had one more rally in it in the seventh. Paula Fryling led off with a walk and Severana Johnson and Hull-Taylor singled to load the bases. But Fryling was tagged out at home by catcher Rachel Baker when trying to score on a pitch in the dirt for the first out. King walked to reload the bases. Mathews' RBI single made it 7-3 and another run scored on a fielder's choice, but that would be it for Fernley.
The Vaqueros jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first when Nikole Whitney belted a two-run triple. But King ran into trouble in the second. She may have been able to stay in the game with the bases loaded and one out when she appeared to have caught a batter looking with a pitch on the inside corner on a 3-2 count. But the pitched was ruled a ball, forcing in a run, and that's when Chapin decided to go to Mathews.
Mathews went on to strike out the next two hitters and Fernley still led 2-1. But Lowry scored three unearned runs in the third to take a 4-2 lead and Lowry touched Mathews for three more runs in the fourth and fifth. King came back in and went on to pitch the last 1.2 innings, holding Lowry scoreless. Ashley Jones and Samantha Rambeau each added a hit for Fernley.
Against Faith Lutheran, Fernley led 3-1 in the fifth when the Crusaders' leadoff hitter reached on an error and tried to reach second on the overthrow. Because the umpire interfered with the runner's path to second, first baseman Whitney was able to throw the runner out.
But because the umpire interfered, the umpiring crew originally decided to award the runner second. But then Chapin brought out her rulebook and after the umpires reviewed it, they correctly ruled the runner out.
The rule is similar to football in which an official may interfere with a player. The play is allowed to continue as if nothing happened.
"I thought it was like football where the referee stays in the way and they just let them keep playing," Chapin said. "It's not like he did it on purpose."
The ruling was key as the Crusaders went on to single and double in the inning for runners and second and third, but Mathews induced a flyball to end the inning. Mathews went on to pitch a complete game, striking out nine.
Faith Lutheran scored an unearned run in the first, but with runners at second and third and no outs, Mathews got a shallow flyball and a strikeout to end the threat without any more damage.
Fernley took a 2-1 lead in the second when Whitney doubled and Lynsie Dunn followed with an RBI double. Rambeau hit an infield single and Dunn scored on an overthrow on the play to make it 2-1.
In the bottom of the second, the Crusaders again had runners at second and third with one out, but Mathews struck out the next two batters to end the threat.
Fernley took a 3-1 lead in the fourth when Whitney singled and Dunn walked. Rambeau's sacrifice bunt moved the runners up to second and third and Jones followed with an RBI single. Hull-Taylor and Whitney each had two hits and Mathews added a hit for Fernley.