Lady Tigers softball wins ninth straight, remains undefeated

Ordinarily, when searching for the toughest opponent of the season thus far for the Nevada Lady Tigers softball team, the place to look would be on the field. Not this season. The toughest opponent the Lady Tigers have found themselves at odds with so far in 2010 has come from the sky as they have already seen two games postponed due to weather in just the past week alone.

Thanks to yet another recent bit of rain, all signs pointed to a three-peat in that respect as the Lady Tigers found themselves with a far less than ideal playing field to work with when they hosted the El Dorado Springs Lady Bulldogs Thursday on Parents' Night at Bushwhacker Field. Head coach Tammy Holcomb, assistant coach Ryan Talley and a host of others worked feverishly almost right up until the first pitch and overcame the odds, however, returning the field to playable condition.

"I don't know, it was pretty tiresome, but they did a good job," Holcomb said of the field preparation efforts. "We had a lot of parents that came out and helped and we really appreciate that."

The Lady Tigers wasted little time taking advantage of the opportunity to play and needed just three innings to earn one of their strongest victories to date as they defeated El Dorado Springs 16-0. "They came out ready to hit the ball hard," Holcomb said.

The Lady Tigers came into the contest hoping to extend their best-ever winning streak of eight games to open the season and did so in emphatic fashion as they notched 11 hits on their way to the run-rule victory. Of those 11 hits, two left the park -- one off the bat of senior Jessica Neely to bring home to runs in the top of the first and the other by the last batter of the game, Tiffani Long.

"The two that were out were hit very hard," Holcomb said. "We had several other balls hit very hard as well, so we're really making good contact at this point."

The offense came early and often for the Lady Tigers as they plated four runs in the opening frame. Olivia Culbertson got the rally started as she knocked in Nikki O'Bryan and Mackenzie Pritchett with a double to left and Neely quickly followed with a two-run homer that El Dorado Springs left fielder Rachel Stewart was forced to simply watch as it sailed over her head, a no-doubter right off the bat.

Many fans were reminded of the Aug. 31 game against Seneca in which the Lady Tigers took a 15-0 win in three innings as Nevada was able to plate two more runs in the second inning, taking a quick 6-0 lead and seemingly slapping the ball all over the field at will against El Dorado Springs starter Jenna Durnell. Though a run-rule victory was already in the Lady Tigers' sights, things were just getting started.

As the home half of the third inning began, things really got ugly for Durnell and the rest of the Lady Bulldogs squad. The Lady Tigers sent a total of 12 hitters to the plate in the frame and looked as though they would be on their way to their second 15-after-3 run-rule victory as they plated seven runs before Long made her second trip to the plate in the inning. With her squad already leading 13-0, Long put a cap on the rally and the game with her third home run of the year -- a towering three-run blast to left -- that forced umpires to stop play and sealed the Lady Tigers victory by a final score of 16-0.

Things didn't go nearly as well on the day for the El Dorado Springs offense as Nevada starter Christian Novak tossed a nearly perfect game with the exception of one minor slip in the second inning when she hit Durnell with a pitch. Christian's been throwing very well, so we're ready for her to continue what she's doing," Holcomb said of the sophomore right-hander.

With that win, the Lady Tigers improved their overall record to 9-0 on the year -- just five wins short of the school record of 14 that was set last year -- and are set to begin a long series of road games on Saturday, when they take on East Newton at 1 p.m.