Struggles plague Wave on diamond

The first weekend of the spring season was not too kind to both the Greenwave baseball and softball teams.

Fallon competed in preseason tournaments consisting of five games, and both clubs came away with only one win last weekend.

The baseball team picked up its lone win over Wooster on Friday in the Mike Bearman Memorial Tournament while the softball team defeated Lodi (Calif.) in the Sacramento Victory Tournament.

Both teams, though, return home this Friday to take on South Tahoe in the first of three crossover games with the Mount Rose League. The Greenwave travels to Dayton to face Truckee and Sparks.

For Lester de Braga’s baseball squad, Fallon had problems on defense that snowballed into a plethora of runs for the opposition in their four losses.

But it was pitching and timely hitting that helped the Greenwave defeat Division I Wooster, 3-2, Friday.

Tristen Salazar, normally a reliever, pitched a complete seven-inning game and received help in the sixth inning with his team down 2-0. Hunter Mori hit a bases-loaded double to tie the game before Cody Long roped a liner to right field to score Clay Amezquita for the winning run.

“Tristen was a pitcher we were not counting on to be a starter but he came in and actually had control of his pitchers and hit his spot,” de Braga said. “He kept them off the plate. He threw less than 80 pitches.”

In Fallon’s losses, though, pitching and defense were inconsistent.

Fallon was blanked by Douglas, 10-0, on Thursday in Minden before falling to Carson, 14-4, on the next day. Fallon’s two Saturday losses came to Spanish Springs, 11-5, and Elko, 14-4.

Mori and Morgan Dirickson pitched in the Douglas loss, but de Braga said Mori had problems with his pitches staying up. Dirickson, though, had good control in relief.

“It was a problem with his control but he was getting the ball too high and not keeping it around the knees,” de Braga said of Mori. “Morgan threw a great game. He had great control of his pitches. He held them in check.”

The hitting, though, couldn’t find a break as Fallon didn’t find any holes in the Tiger defense.

Fallon’s bats, however, came alive against Carson where Fallon was within striking distance midway in the game. The Senators, though, added insurance runs to end the game by the mercy rule. Long threw for Fallon but didn’t receive help from the defense.

“Our hitting was doing real well,” de Braga said. “Our pitching, for the most part, was doing their job and getting ground balls. The error bug hit us. It wasn’t so much the fielding but throwing errors. It got us in the hole.”

De Braga said Joe Pyle stood out on offense in the first two games against Douglas and Carson, which helped the team get out of a funk.

“We put some hits together and some hit-and-runs,” he added. “The boys were producing and hitting the ball the other way. Except for a few innings, our production was there.”

Dalton Frank hit the first pitch of the Spanish Springs game over the fence but the Greenwave couldn’t overcome the Cougars. Fallon was down by only two late in the game but walks and errors plagued the club, despite Fallon out-hitting the home team. Mori, Pile and Tyler Babgy each pitched.

Fallon simply ran out of pitching in the tournament finale against its rivals from Elko.

Dirickson, Pile, and Frank each pitched for Fallon but they combined to give up eight walks and Elko took advantage.

“They were scoring runs without producing the hits,” de Braga said. “We felt coming in we were two weeks ahead getting ready because we had so much time on the field in winter workouts. I was little disappointed in our fielding. We should have done better.”

Softball stumbles

The Lady Wave softball team had a tough time in the Sacramento Victory Tournament last weekend, picking up one win in five games.

Fallon’s lone win came against Lodi (Calif.), 3-1, after the Lady Wave came back from an early hole by scoring three runs in the sixth.

Cady Cordes and Izzy Thomas each had two hits, with Thomas also driving in a run and Cordes doubling once.

Danielle Rothery doubled, Gabby Sharpe tripled and Paige Thorne singled. Megan McCormick and Rothery also had one RBI.

Miranda Ford and Rileigh Ricken teamed together in the circle with Ford going five innings and allowing the one run. Ricken threw two innings.

Fallon led briefly in the fourth inning before Vanden (Fairfield, Calif.) scored three times in the bottom half and then added two in the sixth to win 5-1.

Rothery led Fallon with two hits, while Kaysee Archer and Paige Thorne each had a hit. Thorne’s double drove in one run.

Ricken went the distance of six innings and struck out seven despite giving up five earned runs on six hits.

Christian Brothers (Sacramento) two-hit the Lady Wave in the five-inning shortened contest to win 7-0.

Cordes and Ali Tedford collected the only hits for Fallon, while Ford pitched. Ford gave up six earned runs on 12 hits.

Elk Grove scored the game’s first six runs before Fallon came within three in the fourth. Elk Grove, however, countered with a five spot to win by eight, 11-3.

Rothery was the only Lady Wave to hit safely twice as she also drove in two runs and had a triple.

Archer, McCormick, Tedford and Ford each had a single. Tedford drove in Fallon’s other run.

Ricken was roughed up for six runs in 2.2 innings as the junior gave up two home runs. Ford relieved for 1.2 innings and gave up five unearned runs.

Both teams went scoreless until Wood (Vacaville, Calif.) broke the tie with a five-run fifth inning before Fallon came back with two in the sixth. Wood won 5-2.

Rothery and Tedford each collected two singles, while McCormick singled in both of Fallon’s runs. Gabby Sharpe and Thorne also singled.

Ricken took the loss with all five runs being earned, even though she tallied four strikeouts against no walks.