Kayla Buckmaster sends a pitch flying to home plate during the Wave's game against Fernley.
It was an afternoon of home runs Tuesday, as the Lady Wave dominated the third game of their series against Fernley 8-2.
Fallon hosts Dayton for a three-game series. Friday’s game begins at 3 p.m. and Saturday’s doubleheader begins at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Tuesday’s first inning ended in a 1-1 tie after Fernley’s Hailee Edgar scored a run and Fallon’s Caitlyn Welch knocked the ball over the fence. The Lady Vaqueros played a strong offense in the top of the second inning and Alexandra Conder ran home on an RBI — their last run of the game.
The Wave exploded out from there with Alexis Jarrett tying the game with a home run. Jordan Beyer nailed a base hit, then Faith Cornmesser scored her with another home run, 4-2. Jarrett hit another home run in her next at bat, scoring Shelbi Schultz for a score of 7-2. The final run of the game came from Stacy Kalt running in on an RBI.
Jarrett led Fallon’s scoring with two runs and four RBI. Welch was behind her with two runs and one RBI. Kayla Buckmaster was pitcher of record, playing the entire game and striking out nine batters.
“She has great spin on the ball, she throws the ball hard,” said Fallon coach Tammie Shemenski of Buckmaster’s pitching.
The coach said she felt the game went great. She said there were a couple mistakes in the outfield, but overall everything went well. She praised her players’ ability to come from behind and bring out a win.
“We were down in Winnemucca and we came back, down today and we came back. Just capitalized on some of our power hits and kept it going,” Shemenski said. “I’m super proud of the girls.”
Welch said they bounced back from the mistakes and came together. She said they needed to focus on playing as a team.
Shemanski said Fernley has a tough team and can always come back from behind; she said she always expects a good game from the Lady Vaqueros. The coach also said it doesn’t matter how far ahead Fallon is, there’s never enough of a lead to rest on.
Welch said she thinks Fallon has a good shot at going into regionals with how strong the team is.
“I think we have a good shot at regionals and state,” she said. “If we just play together, play as a team, and work our butts off; because if we don’t work our butts off we won’t stay focused … we have to win every inning to win every game.”
During practice Shemenski said they will be working on coverage; she noted Fernley had better coverages and did not want to see it become an issue in the post season.
“I don’t want to see that happen at state or regionals,” Shemenski said. “I’m looking down the road and hopefully we’ll be there.”
Welch said Dayton had slower pitchers last year and kept several of the same players. She said the Wave would have to work on their hitting to adjust to those pitches.