Carson softball loses 8-7 thriller

RENO - Carson High's softball team dropped back to .500 after suffering an 8-7 loss to Damonte Ranch Thursday afternoon in a Sierra League game in Reno.

Carson is 5-5 and will host Damonte in a doubleheader starting at 10 a.m. Saturday.

"Those are big games on Saturday," Carson coach Scott Vickrey. "We need to win two or we're going to be chasing the back of the pack."

That's been Vickrey's mantra lately, and with good reason. The Senators need to string together a nice win streak or else they could be on the outside looking in come playoff time.

The Senators and Bishop Manogue are fighting for the fourth and final playoff spot.

Carson took a 2-0 lead in the first on a triple by Emily Collins and a fielder's choice by Megan Hein.

Damonte came back with four in the bottom of the first off Daria Leid, who allowed eight runs in 2.1 innings. The key blow in the first was a two-run homer by MacKenzie Wolfe.

Carson cut the lead to 4-3 in the second when Lauren Knorzer singled and came around to score on a single by Collins, but Damonte answered back with two more in the second for a 6-3 lead.

After Carson went scoreless in the third, Damonte tacked on two more runs and knocked Leid out of the circle. Christina Gallegos came on and allowed just one hit in the final 3.2 innings.

Carson made it 8-4 in the fifth when Hein doubled home K.C. Withrow, who was hit by a pitch with one out.

The Senators added three more runs in the sixth on singles by Leid and Knorzer, a double by Lindsay Ashbaugh, a sacrifice by Lisa Yamamoto and a single by Withrow.

Collins led Carson with a 3-for-4 effort, while Knorzer went 2-for-3. Hein, Leid, Ashbaugh and Withrow added a hit apiece.

"Christina did a great job," Vickrey said. "She did a great job when she in during the Douglas series.

"We did a lot of stuff right today, but we also made some mistakes. Defensively I thought we did a pretty good job."