SOUTH LAKE TAHOE - Carson High moved one step closer to a berth in the upcoming regional playoffs with an 11-4 triumph over last-place South Tahoe Thursday afternoon.
Carson, which was in a three-way tie for third place with Bishop Manogue and Fallon, improved to 12-7. Carson travels today to South Tahoe for a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m. The Senators own the tiebreaker over both Fallon and Manogue.
Carson pounded out 14 hits against two South Tahoe pitchers. Moriah Lane, a transfer from South Tahoe, went 3-for-4. Freshman Jocelyn Young, Lauren Knorzer and Lisa Yamamoto all went 2-for-4.
"We're starting to pick it up offensively," Carson coach Scott Vickrey said. "Lisa (Yamamoto) is starting to hit the ball, and we need Megan (Hein) and Daria (Leid) to get hot. Jojo (Jocelyn Young) was a little quiet, but it looks like she's coming around."
It was Knorzer and Lane that jump-started Carson's offense in the second against hard-throwing Mel Smith.
Lane led off the second against her former teammate by ripping a double into the left-centerfield gap. Knorzer followed with a towering drive to deep left-centerfield for an inside-the-park homer to make it 2-0.
"That was the hardest hit I've had all year," Knorzer said. "She (Smith) didn't have a lot of spin on it."
The Senators added a single run in the fourth, and should have had more.
Young singled and Lane drew a walk. Knorzer followed with a double to score Young for a 3-0 lead. Leid followed with a groundball to the left side, and Lane was trapped between third and home, and eventually tagged out. The base coach waved Knorzer to third, and she also was thrown out.
The double play loomed large when the next two hitters reached base via errors. With the bases loaded, Smith retired K.C. Withrow on a groundball to short to end the threat.
Carson scored again in the top of the fifth when Young singled and came around to score on a two-out error.
Lindsey Ashbaugh, who sailed through the first four innings, was lifted in favor of Daria Leid after giving up two runs in the fifth which cut Carson's lead to 4-2.
"We (the coaching staff) made the decision that we wanted to get Daria (Leid) some work," Vickrey said. "Daria hadn't pitched since she hurt her back, so we wanted to give her a little work in the circle before zone."
The Senators put the game out of reach in the top of the sixth, exploding for seven runs on eight hits. Carson sent 13 batters to the plate. The key hit was a two-run double by Emily Collins.
South Tahoe scored once in the sixth and once in the seventh off Leid, who walked two batters and hit another in her 2.1 innings in the circle.
Krissy Guarino drove in the run in the sixth with a single, while Melissa Ewing's infield out plated the run in the seventh.
"At the beginning we did real well; we did well defensively," South Tahoe coach Anneliese Neitling said. "Once they got their timing down on our pitcher (Mel Smith), and they are a pretty good hitting team, we fell apart defensively.
"We were making contact, which is good for us. We did a good job. We need to come out ready to play today."
Ashley Killeen, Emily Rives, Guarino and Sarah Breisacher all had one hit apiece for the Vikings.