Stephanie Harper picked up right where she left off to give the Douglas High softball team an advantage over Carson in the race for second in the Sierra League.
Harper held Carson to one hit on her way to picking up the complete game win in a 5-2 victory over the Senators on Saturday at Douglas. Carson was able to come back to win the nightcap 8-3.
Harper was also the winning pitcher in the Tigers' 4-3 victory at Carson on Thursday. Thanks to her efforts, Douglas took two-of-three from the Senators and got a leg up in the race for second in the Sierra League.
Carson (17-6) is now 10-5 in league while Douglas is 9-4. The two teams still have to play Damonte Ranch, the other club battling for second in the standings.
"We were a little bit slow getting the bats going," Carson coach Scott Vickrey said. "A lot of it was due to Harper.
"She did a great job of changing her speeds and changing her location and keeping us off balance. We didn't play the way we were capable of and most of the time that equals a loss."
In the opener, Douglas scored four runs in the fourth inning to take a 5-0 lead. Marina Diaz led off with a single and Chloe Truedell reached on an error on a sacrifice bunt. Mackenzie Cauley followed with an infield single to load the bases.
Emily Weaver's RBI sacrifice fly made it 2-0, another run scored on a fielder's choice and RBI singles by Lauren Hoppe and Tisha Luken made it 5-0.
Carson got four of its five hits in the last two innings off of Harper, who went the distance. In the seventh, Katie McEwan hit an RBI single and another run scored on a fielder's choice for the Senators.
Cassie Vondrak started for Carson, going 3 2/3 innings. She allowed five three earned runs on five hits while walking four. Daria Leid retired all eight batters she faced, striking out two. Casci, Dacey Hassey, Daria Leid and Sarah Evans had Carson's other hits.
Nikki Keller was the winning pitcher in the nightcap, scattering eight hits while going the distance.
The Senators jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first. Abby Rankl hit an RBI single and Dacey Hassey and Candice Rutledge singled to load the bases. After Leid walked to force in a run to make it 2-0, Harper came into the game.
Keller greeted Harper with a two-run double and Evans followed with an RBI single to make it 5-0.
Harper was able to shut down Carson until the sixth. Hassey and Rutledge had RBI singles and the other run scored on an error to make it 8-3.
Evans went 3-for-4, Hassey and Rutledge each had two hits and McEwan added a hit. For Douglas, Hoppe had two doubles and two RBI, Luken had a hit and an RBI and Weaver, Morgan Barone and Angella Stephenson all added a hit.
VIRGINIA CITY SWEPT
Virginia City lost two wild games on Friday against Smith Valley, losing the opener 29-27 and the nightcap 25-17.
In the opener, Sophie Glogovac was 4-for-4 with four RBI, Cassie Athens went 2-for-4 with two RBI, Megan Culleton was 3-for-4 with four RBI and Brooke Bonnett was 2-for-4 with four RBI. In the nightcap, Culleton was 3-for-3 with a three run home run and five RBI, Jamie Lyle went 3-for-4 with three RBI and Esha Singh, Athens and Glogovac all had a hit and two RBI.
CHS-DOUGLAS JVS SPLIT
After dropping the opening game of a doubleheader 12-3, Carson came back to win the nightcap 10-4 against Douglas to take two-of-three in the series.
Tiffany O'Day set the top for the nightcap when she made an over-the-shoulder catch of a flyball in front of the centerfield fence. Hannah Shaw had a hit and two runs, Brittany Duncan had two hits and two runs, Belen Munoz had a hit and two runs, Sara Pope had a hit and a run and O'Day added a hit.
Pope also had an outstanding game running the bases. Jessie Sinclair was the winning pitcher and Natalie Morrow picked up the save for carson (11-3-1 in league).