Senior-laden Boulder City ousted from 3A tourney

RENO - It wasn't supposed to be like this. Not for a group of seniors who had experienced so much success, including three who had won 128 games during their careers.

Boulder City, which seemed a heavy favorite to at least reach the Class 3A state softball final, was knocked out of the tournament with a 6-3 loss to Fernley on Friday at UNR's Hixson Field.

The Eagles (29-5), who lost to Lowry on Thursday, entered the state tournament on a 27-game winning streak and exited with a two-game losing streak.

"We haven't faced a lot of pitching like this all season," coach Bruce Reid said. "That makes a lot of difference. These pitchers weren't overpowering, but they were good. It's tough when you don't get to see the competition game in and game out. ... You can't simulate it. If you could, I wouldn't worry about it."

Boulder City took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Kasey Ochoa's sacrifice fly and protected it until the sixth.

Eagles pitcher Karlee Koopman was sparkling for five innings, holding the Vaqueros to three hits and striking out six, but Fernley broke through in the sixth for four runs on five hits and an error, sending nine batters to the plate.

Boulder City cut the lead to 4-3 in the bottom half, but RBI singles by Jordan King and Brooke Mattice in the seventh essentially sealed the Eagles' fate.

Fernley compiled nine hits in the final two innings. Meanwhile, King limited the Eagles to five hits.

Ali Rants was 2-for-4 with two doubles for Boulder City. Rants, Koopman and Taylor McKeever helped the Eagles to a 128-17 record in their four seasons.

CLASS 2A

■ Lincoln County 6, White Pine 3 - At Lovelock, K.C. McCrosky pitched a five-hitter and knocked in a run to lead the Lynx (27-5) past the Bobcats (22-12) in the losers' bracket final of the Class 2A state tournament.

Kourtney Gloeckner went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run for Lincoln County, which advanced to meet Yerington (26-3-1) in the title round at 10 a.m. today.

Maa Kingston and Alli Huntington each had two hits for White Pine, which lost to Yerington, 4-3, earlier Friday.

■ Lincoln County 7, Needles 2 - At Lovelock, Elle Scott went 3-for-4 with a double, two runs and an RBI as the Lynx ousted the Mustangs (18-12).

CLASS 1A

■ Indian Springs 12, Carlin 5 - At Bishop Manogue, winning pitcher Brandi Bryl went 3-for-4 with four RBIs to help the Thunderbirds (24-1) outslug the Railroaders (23-8) and advance to the Class 1A state championship round.

The Thunderbirds play Tonopah (10-11) at 11:30 a.m. today at UNR.

Kyli Lopez was 3-for-4 with two RBIs for Indian Springs, which erupted for a nine-run fifth to take an 11-4 lead.

Tonopah reached the final with a 20-8 victory over Eureka and a 10-8, nine-inning win over Carlin on Friday.