Lady Wave softball clinch playoff bid

It was the right team at the right time for the Fallon softball squad.

The Lady Wave beat up on eighth-place Sparks to secure a three-game sweep and snap a slump where Fallon lost five of its previous six games. The trio of victories clinched the Lady Wave’s fourth consecutive spot in the Northern Division I-A regional tournament.

Fallon dropped the Railroaders 7-2 on Friday and 11-0 and 10-0 on Saturday. The Lady Wave improved to 16-5 in league, 17-9 overall and is tied for second with Lowry.

Fernley (19-2) has the No. 1 seed all but locked up after a sweep over the Buckaroos (16-5). The Vaqueros take on last-place Truckee this weekend.

“I thought we came out with focus,” Fallon coach Bill Archer said. “They knew we needed some wins to lock ourselves into the playoffs.”

Fallon started the series slow as Sparks grabbed an early 1-0 lead in Friday’s game. Fallon’s bats finally woke up as the Lady Wave pushed across four runs in the sixth inning.

Sparks cut the lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the frame, but Fallon countered with three more runs in the top of the seventh to seal the victory.

“We just were not adjusting to the pitching,” Archer said of Friday’s slow start. “You just have to adjust a lot sooner.”

On Saturday, Fallon’s bats came alive as the Lady Wave combined for 21 runs. The defense and pitching was stingy as Sparks did not cross the plate and was held to three hits in the two games.

Kayla Buckmaster and Ali Tedford each had three hits in the first game. Buckmaster, though, drove in seven of the Lady Wave’s 11 runs, while Paige Thorn belted her third home run of the season.

Buckmaster also picked up the win and struck out nine and allowed one hit in five innings.

In the second game, Buckmaster, Megan McCormick and Rileigh Ricken each had three hits to pace Fallon. Hannah Frank added four RBIs on a pair of doubles.

Ricken had two RBIs and blasted her eighth home run of the season.

“The offense showed up,” Archer said. “Defensively, I thought we got a good showing out of all of our pitchers. There was a lot of good work by the defense.”