Champs: Fallon clinches 3A East softball title

The Greenwave softball team punched its ticket to the regional tournament and then some.

After sweeping a road series from Lowry last weekend, which featured a home-run derby between two of the top hitters in the Silver State, Fallon clinched the 3A East League title and first-round bye for next week’s regional tournament in Reno. Fallon defeated Lowry, 4-2, on Friday and 7-4 in both games Saturday.

The Wave (11-1 3A East, 21 points) ends the regular season this weekend with a three-game series against last-place Spring Creek (2-7, 12).

The East and West league champions plus the next top four based on points qualify for the postseason. Going into the final week, both Fallon and North Valleys (West) have won their league. The next top four are all from the East: Lowry (18), Elko (15), Fernley (13), and Dayton and Spring Creek (tied at 12).

Fallon senior Lydia Bergman continued to add to her Greenwave-career setting home run total with a pair of bombs against Lowry. She’s tied with Lowry’s Savannah Stoker with 12 for the 3A lead, which is also tied with Douglas’ Talia Trenton for the most in the state regardless of class.

Needing the sweep to win the division, Fallon had to battle from behind in the series finale.

Down 3-2 in the fifth inning, Fallon scored five unanswered runs thanks to clutch hitting and the long ball. Junior Tutie Ames doubled the second pitch to left to score sophomore Taralynn Vershum and tie the game, 3-3. Facing a full count with Ames on second, sophomore Raygen Bartel homered to center to break the tie.

Fallon added insurance in the sixth when Bergman and junior Reece Hutchings hit back-to-back home runs.

Sophomore Vernita Fillmore ran into a little trouble in the final inning when Lowry opened with a double. Stoker’s grounder was misplayed in the infield, trimming the deficit to three runs. Fillmore, though, induced a fielder's choice for the second out before striking out the final batter of the game. She struck out 11 in seven innings and allowed seven hits.

Saturday’s first game had a familiar feel with Lowry taking a 4-2 lead after the first inning when Stoker tied the game, 2-2, with a two-run shot to right followed by Cambria Tisue’s single that led to two more runs scoring on errors.

Bergman responded with a first-pitch two-run homer to tie the game, 4-4, in the third inning. Both teams were held scoreless until the fifth inning when junior Kiley Wallace doubled in Bartel and senior Darci Owens with a hard grounder into left, giving Fallon a 6-4 lead. Vershum singled on the next pitch, scoring Bergman.

Freshman Janessa Bettencourt allowed only one hit in the last three innings — a two-out double to Stoker in the seventh — to record the win. She struck out three in seven innings.

In the series opener on Friday, Fallon never trailed, leading 4-0 in the fifth before Lowry came back with two runs.

Bergman’s RBI groundout led to Fallon’s first run in the first inning before Vershum’s two-out double to center in the fourth doubled the lead, 2-0. Owens’ sacrifice was misplayed, leading to an error that scored Bettencourt from third in the fifth. A fielder’s choice allowed Fillmore to score on the next play, giving Fallon a 4-0 lead.

Stoker’s two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth cut the deficit in half but Bettencourt took advantage of her defense with a double play from Bergman and Fillmore in the sixth to thwart a rally. Bettencourt, who struck out four in seven innings, retired the Buckaroos in order to end the game.