Title town? Fallon baseball, softball eye league championships

The Greenwave baseball team stayed unbeaten in the 3A East last weekend. The Wave has a series this weekend to determine the league winner and No. 1 seed for next month’s regional tournament.

Fallon swept Lowry, 7-3 on Friday and 4-0 and 14-0 on Saturday, to improve to 12-0 in league as it travels to unbeaten Spring Creek (12-0) on Friday and Saturday.

Pitching paved the way against the Buckaroos with junior James Kelsey starting the series with an 11-strikeout complete-game performance on Friday at the Edward Arciniega Athletic Complex.

Kelsey’s two-run single in the first inning contributed to Fallon’s 6-1 lead when his grounder scored Chase Carnahan and Brady Alves with the Wave down 1-0. A passed ball allowed Luis Lopez-Pinuelas to score before Carter Paul’s single scored Trevor Hyde. Nathaniel Zackery singled and Eric Cornejo scored on an infield error to give Fallon a five-run lead.

Lowry scored one in the third on a single before Kelsey induced an inning-ending double play from shortstop Alves to Carnahan at second to Bryce Adams at first. Cornejo’s two-out single in the fifth scored Lopez-Pinuelas for Fallon’s final run.

Senior Baylor Sandberg followed Kelsey’s performance by striking out 16 — five short of the total number of outs — in Saturday’s 4-0 win. Sandberg, who signed on Monday to play at Sac State, allowed only one hit and walked one.

The offense didn’t get going until the sixth inning when Isaac Martinez singled in a run, Kelsey tripled in two and Zackery singled in one.

Adams picked up the shutout in the series finale, going five innings in the mercy-rule game and striking out eight. He gave up two hits and no walks.

Hyde’s two-run double capped off a three-run first inning before the team was a homer shy of the cycle in the second inning. Fallon led 7-0 after Sandberg tripled, Kelsey doubled and Adams singled.

Fallon put the game away in the fourth inning when Caden McKnight’s walk scored a run and Alves singled in one. Cornejo doubled in a run and Evan Giovanetti had an RBI single.

SOFTBALL

After dropping the series opener, 7-3, the Wave softball team came back to sweep Saturday’s doubleheader against Lowry, 5-4 and 7-3.

Fallon improved to 9-3 and travels to last place Spring Creek this weekend with eyes on winning the 3A East title and No. 1 seed for the regional tournament. Fallon needs to win once to capture the league title as it leads Elko and Fernley, both finishing the regular season with 10-5 records.

Lowry (5-8), which is coached by ex-Greenwave softball star Megan (McCormick) Maga, takes on Dayton (3-9) with the winner of the series taking the fourth and final playoff spot.

Saturday’s first game had three lead changes late when Fallon was up by one, 4-3, going into the seventh before Lowry tied the game. With two outs in the eighth, junior Taralynn Vershum smacked a line-drive single into left, scoring Dana Buckmaster to win the game.

Lowry’s Savannah Stoker, who broke the state’s all-time home-run record earlier this month, hit her 50th homer on Friday.

Buckmaster tied the game in the third with a line drive to right to score Layla Walker. The Buckaroos’ Cambria Tisue homered with two outs in the fourth to break the tie and Lowry added another on an error in the sixth. Buckmaster’s double in the bottom half scored pitcher Vernita Fillmore before senior Reece Hutching’s two-run homer over the centerfield fence gave Fallon a 4-3 lead.

Lowry tied the game in the seventh on a popup single.

Fillmore went the distance in the circle, striking out three while issuing four walks and giving up seven hits.

The beginning of the series finale mirrored Saturday’s first game with each team trading leads.

After Lowry scored on an error in the first inning, Vershum’s two-out single to center scored Hutchings and Wallace. Buckmaster’s single in the third gave Fallon a 3-1 lead but Adalyn Entwistle’s two-out single trimmed the deficit to 3-2. Pitcher Janessa Bettencourt intentionally walked Stoker with the bases loaded, which tied the game, but the sophomore pitcher got Hayden Case to fly out to Wallace in center to end the threat.

Fillmore’s bat was the difference when she doubled in Walker from second in the bottom of the fourth. A Lowry error scored Hutchings in the fifth and Bettencourt scored on Walker’s groundout. Fillmore’s single with two outs gave Fallon a 7-3 lead.

Bettencourt redeemed herself after taking the loss on Friday to pick up the series win. She went seven innings, striking out five while walking six and allowed four hits. None of the runs were earned.

Fallon never led in Friday’s game when Lowry jumped on the host with five runs in the first inning. The Wave, though, outscored the Buckaroos the rest of the way, coming to within two runs (5-3) after Maddie Keller homered in the second, Kalaya Downs scored on Buckmaster’s groundout in the third and Vershum scored when Downs walked with the bases loaded.