Saturday Doubleheader Begins at Noon

WNC Softball Splits With North Idaho

TALEAS MARBLE'S HOMERUN CELEBRATION

The bats were flying in the skies above Fernley High School Friday, and they weren’t the Halloween kind. Western Nevada College and North Idaho College traveled east from Carson City to Fernley for their scheduled softball doubleheader Friday, in an effort to avoid wintry weather expected in Carson City.

On the Vaqueros’ field, the two teams combined for 44 runs during a six-hour doubleheader. When it was over, the teams split, with WNC grabbing the opener, 15-14, and North Idaho dominating the nightcap, 12-3.

After the Scenic West Athletic Conference duel, WNC stands fourth in conference standings at 13-18 and 18-27 overall, and NIC is in fifth place at 14-24 and 18-30.

The opener was an epic struggle with 10 lead changes over nearly three hours of play. When the dust finally settled, the Wildcats scored 15 runs on 12 hits and the Cardinals captured 14 runs on 13 hits.

In the nightcap, which aptly lasted until 7 p.m., North Idaho found their revenge, jumping out to a 9-0 lead in four innings before WNC got on the board with a home run by Taleas Marble. The Wildcats added only two more runs, coming in the fifth inning on a home run by Alexia Alley.

The Cardinals scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning with a leadoff home run by Amber Meyers and a two-run homer by Shelby Carter.

Wildcats Coach Leah Wentworth said she was proud of the fight in her team, especially during the opener.

“We showed a lot of character with the all the lead changes,” she said. “We never quit and we kept our intensity.” She lauded Katirina Rand, who hit a home run in the third inning and an RBI in the tenth inning, and Melanie Pfieffer, who hit a full-count fly ball deep into right field for the RBI that put the Wildcats ahead for good, 15-14.

“Our offense really swung the ball hard and came up clutch,” Wentworth said. In the second game, she said, “It was tough to fight back, but they continued to fight. Lexie had a big hit that kept us going.”

The final doubleheader is Saturday at noon at Edmonds Field in Carson City.

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Photos (Click to Enlarge)
ALEXIA ALLEY	ALI LOSTRA	JENNIFER QUAM
JENNIFER QUAM	JORDAN THOMAS	KATIRINA RAND
KATIRINA RAND'S HOMERUN CELEBRATION	MELANIE PFEIFFER	MELANIE PFEIFFER TAG AT SECOND
NIKI DISERA	KATIRINA RAND MAKES THE OUT AT HOME	JORDAN GARCIA
TALEAS MARBLE	TALEAS MARBLE	TALEAS MARBLE
TORI CROWELL