The Greenwave softball team split a pair of games against the defending state champions Saturday.
North Valleys won the first game, 3-0, at the Edward Arciniega Athletic Complex. Fallon came back with a 10-7 win in the nightcap in the team’s first home games this season. The Wave will be on the road the next two weeks before coming back home next month with a game against 5A Damonte Ranch.
Junior Vernita Fillmore picked up Saturday’s win in relief, going 4.1 innings and allowing one run after sophomore Janessa Fillmore gave up six runs, including three earned. Fillmore also did it with her bat, driving in two runs on two hits, including a home run.
After junior Maddie Keller tripled in junior Tutie Ames to break the tie, Fillmore hit a two-run homer off Brittney Byram, who shut down Fallon in the first game.
Fallon jumped out in the second game, scoring four runs in the first inning but the Panthers responded with six unanswered over the next two innings before Fallon tied the game in the third.
Senior Kiley Wallace and freshman Layla Walker each had two hits with Wallace driving in two and doubling once, while Walker had one RBI. Junior Dana Buckmaster also drove in a run and doubled.
In the first game, Bram struck out 16 in a complete-game shutout after the Panthers spotted her a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Bettencourt held her own, going the distance and striking out six while giving up one earned one.
Bettencourt, Fillmore, Buckmaster and junior Taralynn Vershum each singled.
WAVE BASEBALL GOES 4-3
The Greenwave baseball team finished 4-3 in a five-day stretch, picking up wins over Wooster, South Tahoe, Dayton and Truckee.
Fallon opened last week with a 14-8 loss to Fernley on March 12 before defeating Wooster, 8-7, and South Tahoe, which won the regional title last year, 15-4, on March 13. Fallon split last Thursday’s games with a 15-11 loss to Douglas from the 5A and a 14-1 win over Dayton. The Greenwave split Saturday’s doubleheader at home against Truckee, both games with the same score, 3-1.
In the Fernley loss, Fallon gave up 10 runs in the last two innings after leading most of the game.
Junior Nathaniel Zackery drove in two runs on three hits, and senior Aiden Gonzales and juniors Luis Lopez-Pinuelas and Chase Carnahan each doubled in one run. Seniors Bryce Adams and Baylor Sandberg each had an RBI.
Senior Caden McKnight picked up the loss on the hill, giving up seven runs in two innings. Gonzalez pitched four innings, striking out seven while giving up six earned runs. Sandberg and Zackery combined for three innings of scoreless ball.
The next day saw Fallon come back with eight runs in the final two innings to defeat Wooster.
Sandberg drove in three runs on two hits, junior James Kelsey doubled and singled twice, driving in two, and junior Anthony Juarez, Carnahan and Adams each had an RBI.
Juarez picked up the win, giving up one run in two innings. Kelsey allowed two unearned runs in two innings and junior Eric Cornejo pitched 1.1 innings, walking four and giving up three earned runs.
In a rematch of last year’s regional championship, Fallon put up nine runs in the final inning to beat South Tahoe by 11.
Senior Brady Alves drove in three on a single and double, and junior Evan Giovanetti singled in a pair of runs. Carnahan, Kesley, Sandberg, senior Isaac Martinez and junior Trevor Hyde each drove in a run.
Lopez-Pinuelas pitched all three innings in the shortened game, striking out two.
In Thursday’s finale, Douglas scored 13 runs in the second inning before Fallon outscored the Minden school 9-2 the rest of the way.
Sandberg homered and doubled in three runs, and Alves and Gonzalez each drove in two runs. Carnahan, Hyde and Martinez also had an RBI.
Adams took the loss after issuing five walks and giving up six hits and 11 runs in one inning. Juarez pitched four innings and allowed three earned runs.
Fallon continued its momentum from the Douglas game the next day with a nine-spot in the first inning.
Kelsey, Gonzales and Hyde each drove in two runs, while Carnahan, Cornejo, Alves and Martinez each had an RBI. Kelsey’s double was the team’s only extra-base hit.
Giovanetti pitched all four innings, striking out three.
After Truckee won Saturday’s opener, Fallon came back in the second as all runs were scored in the fourth inning.
Hyde and Gonzales each had an RBI as Hyde and Sandberg each had two singles.
Kelsey recorded the win, going six innings and striking out three.
SWIMMING SPLITS VS. NORTH VALLEYS
The Greenwave swimming team had mixed results in only a handful of contested events against North Valleys two weeks ago at the Northwest pool in Reno.
Fallon’s boys’ team defeated North Valleys, 42-39, while the girls fell, 113-39.
For the boys, five events were held with only two – 50-yard free and 100 free – being contested.
Michael Liston won the 50 free with a time of 27.10 seconds and Kage Oyler was fifth in 35.57. In the 100 free, Liston won in 1:02.55 followed by Oyler in second in 1:24.34. Zachary Koenig swam uncontested in the 100 fly and 100 backstroke.
For the girls, Katelen Helton won the 200 free in 2:31.45 followed by Evelyn Lott in 2:36.79. Miranda Reeder won the 100 free in 1:15.86, Helton took second in the 100 back in 1:18.36, while Lott and Reeder finished second and third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:29.84 and 1:41.79.
The Panthers swam unopposed in seven events.
ELKS INVITE RETURNS
After track conditions preventing last year’s Elks Invitational from taking place, the region’s mainstay event returns this Saturday for the 49th year.
The one-day meet begins at 9 a.m. with the field events followed by 9:30 a.m. with the track events at the Edward Arciniega Athletic Complex. Admission is $8 for adults and $5 for students.
Medals will be given to the top three finishers in each events, and trophies will be awarded to the top two teams in each of the small and large school divisions for boys and girls. Awards will also be giving to the outstanding male and female athletes.