Just when it looked as if Western Nevada College was going to make a late-inning rally against Salt Lake on Friday night, reliever Jared White had other ideas.
White escaped a two base runner, no-out jam in the eighth inning unscathed to protect a 4-2 victory over the Wildcats in a Region 18 Baseball Tournament elimination game in Henderson.
The win ends the Wildcats’ season and sends Salt Lake into the tournament title game against host College of Southern Nevada today.
Salt Lake proved to be a thorn in the Wildcats’ over the latter half of the season. The Bruins defeated WNC seven straight times, including twice in the region tournament. The Wildcats, which finished with a 33-26 overall record, were attempting to qualify for the Western District Tournament for the fourth straight season.
In the pivotal eighth, Tim Lichty started the Wildcat inning with a walk. The rally really took shape when Kody Reynolds followed with a base hit to left-center field, sending Lichty to second base. A passed ball advanced each runner 90 feet. But White didn’t buckle, striking out Corey Pool and D.J Peters for the first and second outs of the inning and then getting David Modler to ground out to end the inning.
WNC got on the scoreboard first when Reynolds with two outs in the first.
An infielder error to start the fourth inning served as an ominous sign for the Bruins. Following the error that allowed Reynolds to reach first base, Pool and Peters provided singles to load the bases with no outs. Modler cut the Wildcats’ deficit to 3-2 with a sacrifice fly to right field. But the Bruins prevented WNC from squaring the score, pulling off a double play, where Peters was tagged out by shortstop Austin Ovard, who then threw out Austin Andrews at first base.
Offensively, Reynolds was 2 for 3 with two runs scored and a RBI and Pool was 2 for 4.
Earlier in the day, WNC beat College of Southern Idao 9-2.
WNC pulled away from CSI with a three-run sixth and a two-run seventh after struggling to drive in runners on base and committing several miscues in the field earlier in the game.
Behind the four-hit pitching of Max Karnos and the hitting of Jake Bennett and Lichty, the Wildcats avoided becoming the second team ousted from the double-elimination tournament.
WNC 10th-year coach D.J. Whittemore put the ball in the hand of sophomore Karnos with the season on the line. And Karnos delivered, allowing one earned run in seven innings. He struck out six and walked one.
Kyle Johnson worked the final two innings, giving up three hits and striking out two.
Just as important as Karnos’ effort was the offensive production of Lichty and Bennett. Bennett was 3 for 4 with four runs scored, while Lichty went 4 for 5 with two triples and three RBI. Other offensive contributions came from Modler, who was 2 for 3 with two runs scored, and Bradley Lewis, who was 2 for 4 with a run scored. Austin Andrews also hit an RBI single to make it 7-2.
WNC left most of their seven runners on base through the first four innings.
JC SOFTBALL
WNC exits region tourney
TAYLORSVILLE, Utah — Shut out through the first six innings by College of Southern Nevada’s Megan Mello, the Western Nevada College softball team didn’t go down without a fight at the Region 18 tounament on Friday afternoon.
Mello took a four-hit shutout into the final inning, but the Wildcats fought back to score two runs before falling in the elimination game, 7-2.
Mello, who lost to the Wildcats last weekend when the teams met in Carson City, only allowed multiple WNC base runners in one inning before the seventh frame.
In the seventh, trailing 7-0, Bailey Henderson delivered a one-out single, stole second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Katilyn Covione knocked in Henderson with a base hit to right field. Makaylee Jaussi’s single to left field was misplayed and resulted in Covione scoring the second run of the inning.
The Wildcats’ two-day run in the double-elimination tournament ended with a 2-2 mark. For the first time in program history, the Wildcats opened the tournament with a victory.
Earlier on Friday, the Wildcats won by the mercy rule for the first time in their postseason history. In the process, two freshmen who have received limited playing time in recent weeks contributed mightily to the 13-4 five-inning, elimination-game victory over Colorado Northwestern Community College.
Pitcher Kaitlyn Jimmy of Carson High surrendered only one run over a three-inning span and Dakota Robinson socked a two-run double to highlight a five-run second inning.
The offense also received a jolt from Jaussi, who belted her second homer in as many days, a three-run shot that gave WNC a double-digit lead at 13-1.
In the productive second inning, Robinson connected for a two-run double, Lauren Lesniak contributed a RBI single and Sakuma delivered a run-scoring groundout.
Kristina George was the winning pitcher.
Jaussi led the offense with two hits, three runs scored and three RBI and Robinson was 2 for 4 with two runs scored and three RBI. Other contributions included: Melanie Mecham, 2 for 3 with two RBI and a run scored; Sakuma, 1 for 3 with two RBI; and Covione, 1 for 3 with two runs scored and two RBI.
The Wildcats concluded the season with the most wins in program history — 23.
“It’s exciting to know that they are playing so strong now as a young group and to know what next year may hold as well,” WNC coach Leah Wentworth said. “Ninety percent of our lineup is made up of freshmen and we’re competing against a lot more experience on every other roster, so it’s exciting.”
PREP SOFTBALL
Douglas eliminated
Douglas rallied from a three-run deficit Friday to get past Reno 12-9 in a 10-inning elimination game at the Northern Division I Region Tournament in Reno. The Tigers were unable to sustain that momentum when they returned to the field for the next game, losing to Galena 13-2 in another elimination game on a cold and rainy afternoon at Bishop Manogue High School.
Kali Sargent pitched all 10 innings for Douglas (23-13) against Reno. Nicole Dunn, Makayla Shaver, Mackenzie Brixey, Shaena Robinson and Madison Parks delivered key singles for the Tigers in their decisive three-run rally in the top of the 10th.
“We had a great game,” said Douglas coach Rob Parks, whose Tigers lost both of their regular season meetings against Reno. “It was a fun game, an emotional game. I just think we extended so much energy, we didn’t have anything left in the tank for Galena.”
Baileigh Loux homered to lead off the game and Galena never looked back en route to their win. Loux hit two of the Grizzlies’ four home runs in the game — Nicole Renner and Shelby Harris accounted for the other two.
Galena had staved off elimination earlier in the day thanks to a 6-4 win over conference regular season co-champion Spanish Springs.