Lady Wave chasing No. 2 seed

Getting into the playoffs was the first goal. Trying to get back to the championship game for the fifth consecutive year is next.

The Lady Wave softball team clinched a playoff berth with a sweep over Sparks last week with three games left. Sitting in third behind Fernley, which clinched the top seed, and Lowry, Fallon hosts South Tahoe today at 3 p.m. before a doubleheader on Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Edward Aricienga Athletic Complex.

“We feel like the team is focused and knows what they must do in the coming weeks in order to be in a position to extend the season and our goal of reaching the championship game,” Fallon coach Bill Archer said.

Until three weeks ago, Fallon (16-5) was the hottest team in the region, winning its first 12 league games before stumbling against Lowry (16-5) in a doubleheader sweep. Add a road loss to Fernley (19-2), which has won 10 in a row, and a series loss at Dayton (13-8) two weeks ago, the Lady Wave needed to back to winning and a three-game sweep against Sparks (3-21) helped Fallon rid some of the bad taste from last month.

“We feel like we have bounced back from our midseason missteps and are looking forward to playing South Tahoe at home this weekend ahead of the regional tournament,” Archer said. “We plan to refine our skills and go into playoffs on all cylinders.”

Now, Fallon turns its attention to South Tahoe (6-12) this weekend as it looks to build on the three-game winning streak heading into next week’s tournament at Lake Tahoe.

The bats came alive against Sparks last week and the pitching held strong. Fallon improved its batting average as a team to .360 while the pitching staff ERA is still less than two runs at 1.72.

Rileigh Ricken leads the team both at the plate and in the pitching circle as the senior boasts a .565 batting average and has held opponents to 1.51 runs per game in 88.1 innings. She leads the team in home runs with eight after breaking the school’s all-time career mark last month and her 35 RBIs are second on the team to sophomore Megan McCormick, who’s hitting .442.

Kayla Buckmaster, the No. 2 pitcher, is hitting the ball well with a .467 average while Ally Tedford is hitting .340. Buckmaster has a 1.98 ERA in 42.1 innings pitched while Miranda Ford comes in with a 2.01 ERA in 24.1 innings. Ricken leads the team in strikeouts with 72 while Buckmaster has fanned 37 and Ford has 15.