Wave reminds D1-A why they’re champions

Fallon’s Kayla Buckmaster pitched a no-hitter against South Tahoe on Friday in the Wave’s first win, 18-0, followed by two more victories on Saturday, 21-1 and 10-0, to end the long weekend.

The Lady Wave (3-0 overall and in DI-A) has another three-game weekend at home against the Truckee Wolverines on Friday at 3 p.m. followed by a doubleheader on Saturday, 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

As a team of three seniors, seven juniors and seven freshmen, South Tahoe (0-3 overall and in DI-A) has their work cut out for them this season after suffering three consecutive losses to the Lady Wave in the league openers for both teams.

Fallon was the first on the scoreboard in the first game when Kalyn Huckaby stole home after a ball skirted past South Tahoe catcher Samantha Kallas.

South Tahoe coach Eric Owens said he hopes to take the weekend as a measuring stick for the future, but that the Lady Vikings have a lot to work on hoping things will be a lot different by the end of the season.

“Just getting out here we’ve been in the gym and in the snow,” Owens said of their first league game, “but these guys are state champions, and they don’t beat themselves. They showed that all weekend long. That’s basically what we’ve got to do is come out and go back to work.”

Wild pitches in the dirt would proved problematic for the Lady Vikings for the rest of the game, costing them several Fallon stolen runs.

“When you play a team of this caliber, what you pretty much have to do is play perfect,” Owens said. “They are beatable, but they sure didn’t show it this weekend.”

Buckmaster opened on the mound for the Lady Wave with two strikeouts against the Vikings’ Drue Chapman and Samantha Chambers and fielding the last out to Miranda Ford on first.

The Lady Wave had surged ahead to a 4-0 lead by the second inning when Stacy Kalt took the plate and hit Fallon’s first home run of the season but not their last.

Kalt brought the Lady Wave up to 6-0 with the homer run batted in (RBI).

Fallon nearly went through the top of the order two more times accumulating more runs before South Tahoe got back up to bat, an afternoon of missed grounders and strikeouts that spelled an easy victory for the Lady Wave beginning the weekend.

In Saturday’s first game Fallon once again jumped to a 7-1 lead by the bottom of the second inng, though the Vikings’ Bailey Barcellos scored the only run for South Tahoe in the first inning that prevented a second no-hitter for the Lady Wave.

Megan McCormick then took the plate and knocked a home run over right field, a double RBI before the Vikings took back the batter’s box.

The Vikings’ Sidney McCarthy took over as pitcher for South Tahoe but continued missed grounders and smacks to the sweet spot between second base and center field allowed the Wave their next victory of the weekend after RBI’s by McCormick and Paige Thorn as well as a homer by Buckmaster.

The third game was South Tahoe’s last chance to turn things around and leave a better name for themselves before leaving Fallon but no such luck.

South Tahoe began the third game on a high note, though, with a double by Barcellos that prevented a no-hitter.

McCormick had a near homer just foul of left field that would have meant her second of the weekend.

The Vikings’ infield held the Lady Wave from scoring before the third inning when Courtney Cross tripled after hitting the ball to right field, stealing home after a grounder past South Tahoe’s catcher for the Wave’s first run of the game.

The Lady Wave gradually increased its lead each inning, but with no more than two to three runs at a time with South Tahoe’s hitters now able to get on base. Nonetheless, strikeouts accumulated too fast for the Lady Vikings to bring a run in and the Lady Wave 10-runned South Tahoe to finish the weekend.