Josiah Pongassi slides under the tag of Douglas shortstop Zac Davies in a win over the Tigers Thursday afternoon at Tiger Field.
The first inning Thursday against Wooster was a microcosm of Carson High’s softball season.
Errors on back-to-back plays led to four unearned runs, and the Colts went on to an easy 11-3 win over the Senators in their home finale.
Carson closes its season with a doubleheader Saturday at 11 a.m. at Douglas.
The Senators struggled at the plate, getting just six hits, five coming in the fourth and sixth innings when they scored their runs off Vanessa Kostka.
“We were not patient at the plate; not disciplined,” CHS coach Shane Quilling said. “It’s disappointing because I think we’re better than this. We’re just not a good offensive team right now.”
Kostka retired the first nine she faced before Carson started to figure things out, but by that time it was too late.
Makenzie Tucker started, and pitched well enough to get out of the inning unscathed.
With runners on first and third and two out, Desiree Bounds reached on an error by Gabi Winder, allowing two runs to score. Lauren Lutch followed with a flyball to left which was dropped by Elise Brady to make it 3-0. Gillian Oldridge followed with a run-scoring single to drive in the fourth run. She was thrown out at second by Camiell Simpson.
Tucker didn’t get out of the second inning, giving up four straight hits and two runs after one out before being relieved by Lauren Lemburg.
“Tuck came in the other day (Tuesday) and threw all right, so we thought we’d try something different,” Quilling said.
Lemburg got the final two outs of the inning.
The Colts nicked Lemburg for a run in the third on a two-out error by Terryn Earle for a 7-0 lead.
Carson got on the board in the fourth when Bailey Allen singled and scored when Lemburg’s single got by right fielder Cheyenne Lamprich. Lemburg ended up on third and scored on Simpson’s infield out. Winder followed with a two-out double, but was stranded when Brady popped out to second.
The Colts tacked on three more in the sixth to make it 10-2. Carson scored its final run in the bottom of the inning when Bailey Allen tripled to deep center and scored on an infield out.
JC BASEBALL
Wildcats lose thriller, 2-1
HENDERSON — Major League Baseball scouts coming out to see highly touted right-handed pitcher Phil Bickford on Thursday saw a couple of other arms to focus their radar guns on.
Western Nevada College sophomore right-hander Max Karnos allowed just one hit through the first six innings and sophomore reliever Connor Zwetsch threw 1 2/3 innings of hitless relief as the Wildcats nearly handed Bickford his second defeat of the season.
Kenny Meimerstorf triggered a two-run seventh inning with a solo homer and Jose Verdugo lined a run-scoring single to center as the Coyotes rallied for a 2-1 victory to clinch an outright Scenic West Athletic Conference baseball title.
A well-timed swing by D.J. Peters wiped away Bickford’s shutout in the fifth. Peters smashed a Bickford fastball off the light pole in left-center field, a drive of more than 370 feet. It was Peters’ seventh homer of the season, second only to Corey Pool’s eight.
Besides those hitting highlights and a three-hit performance by Wildcat leadoff hitter Jake Bennett, the evening belong to the pitchers. Bickford and Karnos combined for 20 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings between them.
Karnos (5-5) kept the Coyotes’ hitters guessing, surrendering four hits and striking out eight.
The clubs will play twice today, with the twin bill starting at 2 p.m.
HIGH SCHOOL GOLF
Senators third at Arrowcreek
Carson High’s Dalton Butler shot an even-par 72 to lead the Senators to a third-place finish in the Sierra League regular-season finale Wednesday at Arrowcreek Golf Club.
The Senators finished at 447, 37 shots behind Galena and 75 behind Manogue. Manogue, Galena, Carson and Douglas will play in the regional tournament Monday and Tuesday at Dayton Valley Golf Club.
Bebop Martinez shot 85, Matt McCarthy 91, Lakoda Smokey 96, Jake Jones 103 and Casey Stevens 113.
“Dalton played another consistent round,” coach Rod Butler said. “It was a solid effort from tee to green. He felt he could have scored better, but the greens were recently aerated which caused the greens to be slower than normal. Bebop played a nice round for the second straight week. He let a good round slip away the last few holes, but he is getting close to putting up a good number.”
Western Nevada College also contributed to this report.