Fernley’s four-run fifth inning foils Sierra Vista in state softball tournament

Sierra Vista softball coach Keith Ulrich thought his team played with a lot of energy in the first round of the Division I-A state tournament Thursday.

It wasn’t enough, though, to beat Northern Region champion Fernley.

The Vaqueros used a four-run fifth inning to break a 3-3 tie and held on for a 7-3 win over the Mountain Lions in the first round at Bishop Gorman.

Sierra Vista (17-10) will face Faith Lutheran (31-10) in an elimination game at 8 a.m. today at UNLV. Fernley (28-5) will meet Churchill County (25-9) in the winners’ bracket final at 10 at UNLV.

“I told the girls after the game that I thought we played well,” Ulrich said. “Our energy — especially how we prepared before the game — was great. It was just our execution was a little poor, especially in that fifth inning. And at this level, you have to have pristine execution in order to win a state championship. They know that.”

Sierra Vista appeared to have grabbed momentum in the top of the fifth inning after pitcher Kalei Watkins hit a two-run homer to deep center field to tie the game at 3.

But Fernley had other plans in the bottom half of the inning.

Kayla Harrison led off with a walk and advanced on a sacrifice bunt. Mercedes Rothwell, who finished 3-for-4 with two runs, then hit a double to put runners in scoring position for Hailee Edgar.

During Edgar’s at-bat, Watkins was called for an illegal pitch, which resulted in Harrison scoring from third base and Rothwell advancing to third.

On the next pitch, Edgar smoked a ball to the left side that was misplayed by Sierra Vista third baseman Taylor DeGuzman for an error to score Rothwell and make it 5-3.

Courtney Dunn added a two-run single in the inning for the Vaqueros.

The Mountain Lions, who finished with three errors, couldn’t muster any offense in the next two innings and were retired on six batters.

Adrianna Somerville went 3-for-4 with two runs for Sierra Vista, and Harmony Dominguez was 1-for-3 with an RBI.

Watkins finished 2-for-3 with a run and two RBIs for the Mountain Lions.

■ Churchill County 21, Faith Lutheran 8 — The Crusaders committed nine errors and surrendered a 12-run seventh inning in their loss to the Green Wave.

Erin Gilchrist was 2-for-2 with a double and two runs, and Vanessa Valdez went 2-for-4 with two RBIs for Faith Lutheran, which trailed 9-8 after six innings.

Lauren Beatty, Breanna Hemphill and Claire Peck each had a double for the Crusaders.

DIVISION III

Lincoln County pitcher Aspen Wilkin tossed a five-inning no-hitter with 10 strikeouts to lead the Lynx to a 13-0 win over Battle Mountain at The Meadows.

Wilkin retired the first 10 batters before an error in the fourth inning broke up her perfect game and gave the Longhorns their only runner.

Wilkin also was 2-for-2 with a home run and two RBIs for Lincoln County (24-7), which will face Yerington (22-11) in the winners’ bracket final at 2 p.m. today.

Chesnee Harding finished 2-for-3 with a double, a home run and two RBIs, and Cameron Lloyd added a three-run homer for the Lynx, who also got a homer from Josie Burgess.

■ Yerington 7, White Pine 6 — Sarah Sam’s RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning drove in the winning run as the Lions rallied past the Bobcats.

White Pine (15-8) meets Battle Mountain (18-12-1) in an elimination game at noon today at The Meadows.

The Bobcats, who took a 6-5 lead in the top of the seventh inning on an RBI single by Kadi Finicum, couldn’t hold on in the bottom half.

Yerington’s Deseree Landa, who started the inning with a walk, eventually scored the tying run after three consecutive singles before Sam broke up the tie with a high chopper that skipped off the glove of pitcher Britney Kingston.

Jane Murdock was 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs, and Debra Kingston homered and had two RBIs for White Pine.

DIVISION IV

Pahranagat Valley overcame a late six-run deficit by scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and ended the game on a three-run error to steal an 8-7 win from Eureka at UNLV’s Eller Media Stadium.

With the Panthers down to their final out and trailing 7-5, Jamie Hansen drew a four-pitch walk to put runners at first and second base for Madalyn Taylor.

Taylor hit a ground ball to Eureka second baseman Bridgette Bacon, who misjudged the ball, allowing it to get by her and roll to the fence in right-center field.

Taylor circled the bases to end the game for the Panthers (17-6), who face Wells (30-2) in the winners’ bracket final at noon today at Mountain View.

■ Wells 9, Indian Springs 4 — Winning pitcher Katlyn Del Rio went 2-for-4 with a double and struck out 11, and the Leopards took advantage of 11 errors to down the Thunderbirds.

Hailey Swan was 4-for-4 for Wells, which scored three unearned runs in the third inning to take a 4-2 lead.

Hannah Thormahlen was 3-for-4 with a triple and two runs, and Cheyenne Noyes went 2-for-2 with a run for Indian Springs (20-8), which faces Eureka (15-6) in an elimination game at 2 p.m. today at Mountain View.