JEN SCHMIDT/NEVADA APPEAL
RENO - For the first time in three weeks, the Carson High softball team is above the .500 mark.
The Senators moved to 5-4 in Sierra League play with their doubleheader sweep of Galena on Friday afternoon. Carson won the opener 11-7 and the nightcap 14-4 in a game that was stopped after five innings because of the 10-run rule.
"I was thinking about that (getting over .500) today," Carson coach Scott Vickrey said. "It's nice. It's the second straight series we've won, too. These were big games for us.
"Daria (Leid) threw well, especially in the second game, and Megan Hein had a big day."
Leid won both games of the doubleheader. In the second game, she was working on a two-hitter with a 14-1 lead until Galena scratched out three runs on three hits in the bottom of the fifth. Leid dominated, as she finished with 13 strikeouts, two walks and two hit batters in the game.
Hein went 5-for-8 in the doubleheader with a homer and five RBIs. It was her second career varsity homer.
Galena took a 3-0 lead in the second inning of the opener, scoring three unearned runs on two Carson errors. Raquel Martinez had the Grizzlies' only RBI.
Carson answered back in the top of the third, sending 10 batters to the plate against losing pitcher Kiley Sauer and scoring six runs.
Hein opened the inning with a single, and teammates Jocelyn Young, Moriah Lane and Lauren Knorzer and Hein, coming up for the second time in the inning, all had hits. Young, Lane and Hein all had run-scoring hits.
"It was huge," Hein said when asked about answering back and taking the lead in the third inning. "We weren't comfortable with that lead. We knew we needed all the runs we could get."
Galena's McKenzie Wasley drove in a run in the last of the third to make it 6-4, but again Carson answered with a run of its own on Young's single to make it 7-4. The inning might have been bigger, but Young was called for interference running between second and third on Knorzer's groundball to short.
Two wild pitches and Sharon Wetzel's bunt single enabled Galena to chop the lead to 7-5 after five.
Again, Carson had an answer. The Senators used two walks, two hits and an error to score four runs and take a 11-5 lead.
Morgan Kleine walked and eventually scored on a single by Kristin Withrow. Emily Collins, who had reached on a walk, came around to score on a wild pitch. Young reached on an error allowing a run to score and Lane singled home a run. The rally died quickly, as the next three hitters went down in order.
Galena trimmed the lead to 11-7 in the sixth on a muffed infield fly and a run-scoring groundball. Leid, however, struck out the side in the seventh to nail down the win. Only two of the seven runs she allowed were earned.
Besides Hein's three hits, Young and Lane added two apiece.
In the second game, Carson left no doubts early. The Senators scored four in the first, all after two outs, and then roared back with seven more in the second to gain an early 11-1 advantage.
Young started the uprising in the first with a two-out single. She came around to score on Lane's double to center. Lane would eventually score on two wild pitches. Leid walked and moved to third on Hein's double. Knorzer followed with a two-run double for a 4-0 lead.
Carson sent 12 batters to the plate in the second. Six reached on walks and four - Leid, Hein, Young and Natalie Morrow - hit safely. The big blows were a two-run single by Young, a three-run homer by Hein and a two-run single by Leid.
Galena scored one in the bottom of the second and Carson tallied twice in the third when Leid and Knorzer produced run-scoring singles to make it 13-1. Carson made it 14-1 after five when Leid doubled and scored on a double by Knorzer, who finished the second game with four RBIs.
Leid and Knorzer had three hits apiece in the second game, while Hein added two.
Galena finished with just five hits, as Leid, despite wind and snow, had great command.
"I've thrown better than that," she said, referring to her second-game performance. "I usually get stronger as I throw. I think I just got used to the conditions.
"After they got that first hit in the fifth, I tried to throw harder."
TheSenators return to action Thursday against Damonte Ranch.