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Lady Tigers snap four-game losing skid, start fresh win streak
The Nevada Lady Tiger softball team snapped a four-game losing skid with Tuesday's 7-3 Big 8 Conference road victory over East Newton, and then followed with a convincing 10-0 thrashing of Lamar on Wednesday.
Nevada was lifted by the stellar performances of Abby Harder and Hailee Lundine in the victory over East Newton. Harder tossed a complete-game, striking out five and walking one over seven innings of work. Lundine, meanwhile, finished 3-for-4 with four RBI, while Tylin Heathman chipped in a pair of hits and scored twice.
"Tonight definitely was not our best performance, but we did enough to get a 'W,'" said Nevada head coach Danny Penn. "After losing four in a row, we were hungry for a victory."
Two of Lundine's four RBI came in the first, as Nevada quickly jumped in front.
"Scoring two in the first was big," Penn noted. "Hailee did a great job of putting the ball in play with two strikes."
Added Penn: "Abby did a nice job in the circle. They didn't hit many balls hard off of her, but they seemed to find some holes. They were threatening a big inning, but our defense was able to turn a (key) double-play and kill their momentum."
Nevada (9-8) broke the contest open late, via Maggie Leisure's RBI-sacrifice fly, followed by Lundine's 2-RBI double.
"I think winning tonight took some pressure off our shoulders, and I'm hopeful we are able to start playing up to the level that we're capable of," Penn said.
The Lady Tigers carried their momentum into Wednesday Big 8 home-clash with archrival Lamar, collecting a 10-0, five-inning, run-rule victory.
Lundine dazzled in the circle, tossing a complete-game shutout.
Nevada grabbed an early 1-0 lead via sophomore center fielder Bailey Ast's sharply hit RBI-single to right-center, plating Madison Hyder. Nevada's big frame continued, as Heathman smacked a double off the top of the center field wall, and was brought home by Lundine's run-scoring single for a 2-0 NHS advantage.
Claire Pritchett and Harder padded Nevada's early cushion, as both drove in runs en route to a 4-0 first inning lead.
The Lady Tigers pushed the advantage to seven in the second, highlighted by Heathman's 2-RBI base-knock. Nevada put the contest on ice in the fourth, pounding out five hits, with Harder's double off the center field wall accounting for two of the inning's three runs, and a 10-0 Nevada lead.
"I thought Hailee did a good job of attacking the strike zone early in the game, especially after getting a four-run lead in the first," Penn said. "And she trusted her defense to make plays behind her."
Penn said his club's dominant victory is how he envisions them playing each time out.
"Good at-bats, spraying the ball all over the field, hitting the ball hard, throwing strikes in the circle and making plays in the field," explained the first-year Lady Tiger head coach. "This is what we are capable of. If we come out and play like this, we can compete with anybody."
Defensively, the Lady Tigers were sharp.
"You can credit some of that to Hailee being in the (strike) zone — so some our fielders know every pitch, the ball may be hit to them," Penn said. "Abby at third base fielded four or five clean, Maggie had three our four putouts at second base, Bailey Ast had three in center field. We were ready to make plays, and we were having fun — so we were excited to come back up to the plate and swing it again."
Nevada also emerged victorious in the junior varsity contest, knocking off Lamar, 3-2, in walk-off fashion. A Lamar wild pitch scored Taylynn Culbertson from third for the winning run.
Editor's note:See a future edition for details on Nevada's Big 8 clash with Marshfield on Thursday