Fallon junior Lydia Bergman is mobbed at home plate after hitting a home run against Elko in the 3A North regional tournament in Winnemucca.
The Lady Wave softball team couldn’t figure out North Valleys, costing it a trip to the state tournament.
After a thrilling walkoff win over Spring Creek to open the 3A North regional tournament on Thursday in Winnemucca, a sac fly against North Valleys in the second game sent Fallon into the consolation bracket. Fallon mercy-ruled Elko and Lowry to set up a rematch with the Panthers in a winner-goes-to-state affair Saturday morning.
Fallon opened with a 4-1 lead going into the bottom of the third inning before North Valleys tied the game and then took the lead in the fourth inning.
Junior Lydia Bergman hit her 11th home run of the season, which tied the career school record at 25, in the first inning to give Fallon a 1-0 lead. Maddie Keller’s sac fly in the next inning scored Dana Buckmaster, who tripled with one out. After a North Valleys double in the bottom of the second sliced Fallon’s lead in half, Vernita Fillmore scored on a passed ball when Bergman stole second in the third. Reece Hutchings smacked a grounder to third, which led to an error to score Bergman and give Fallon a 4-1 lead.
A North Valleys single led to a two-base error, putting Brianna Lafontaine on third when Karli Klein’s sac fly scored her. A single and walk against Fillmore put runners on first and second for Brittney Byram, who singled in Abegail Byram on the throw. The Panthers tied the game on an infield error.
Lafontaine’s single in the fourth inning broke the tie as Kelsee Grow scored after tagging up from Staci Davis’ flyout.
The Fallon bats went quiet until the last inning thanks to a pitching change in the third for North Valleys.
Bergman doubled in the fifth with two outs but was stranded when Hutchings struck out swinging against Brittney Byram. Buckmaster singled in the sixth with two outs but was left on base when Keller grounded out to Byram.
Fallon’s only senior – Shayda Lofthouse – opened the seventh inning with a four-pitch walk before being substituted by Darci Owens.
Fillmore struck out swinging but Raygen Bartel walked, setting the stage for Bergman with two runners on and one out. The Fallon junior struck out on a 2-2 count followed by Hutchings’ strikeout to end the game and season. Byram struck out 10 of the 13 batters faced in 4 ⅔ innings.
Fillmore pitched six innings, striking out two and allowing 10 hits and two walks.
Fallon 10, Spring Creek 9
The Spartans jumped on Fallon to lead 5-0 before the Lady Wave came back to tie the game at six in the sixth inning. After both teams went scoreless in the seventh, Spring Creek scored three in the eighth but Fallon rallied for four in the bottom half.
In the final inning, the Spartans’ Nyha Harris smacked a grand slam off Lofthouse but Fallon appealed that she missed touching third base, resulting in a three-run score.
Villmore singled and Bergman walked in the bottom of the inning before Hutchings doubled in both on an 0-2 count. Taralynn Vershum’s single to center scored Hutchings to tie the game at nine. After a strikeout,
Owens singled to left field with two outs to score Vershum and end the game.
Fillmore started the game, going five innings and allowed five earned runs before Lofthouse finished the last three innings.
Bergman led Fallon at the plate with two hits and RBIs, including a home run.
Fallon 15, Elko 1
Ten runs in the first inning set the tone for Fallon.
Bergman’s two-run double got Fallon on the board followed by Hutchings’ RBI single to right field. Buckmaster singled in Hutchings to give Fallon a 4-0 lead before an error with Keller at the plate scored Vershum. Keller followed with a two-run single off a 3-1 count, giving Fallon a seven-run advantage with no outs.
Bartel’s bunt into a fielder’s choice scored Keller, Fillmore scored on an error in the next at-bat and Hutchings’ grounder was mishandled by the third baseman, which scored Bartel.
Fillmore struck out eight in five innings.
Fallon 14, Lowry 4
The Lady Wave jumped on the host with seven runs in the first two innings before ending the game early in the fifth.
Bergman hit a two-run homer in the first inning to start the scoring, but Kiley Wallace did most of the damage with RBIs on three hits. She drove in runs with a double in the first and singles each in the second and fifth.
Villmore pitched Fallon to the win, allowing seven hits while striking out five.
