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Warriors step up to plate in Sacramento

Steve Yingling

If Whittell High gets through the rest of its murderous preseason baseball schedule with a winning record, the Warriors won’t have to fire their schedule maker.

Following an 8-4 loss at Dayton on Thursday, the Warriors (4-3) begin a rugged three-day schedule in the Sacramento Invitational starting today. Weather permitting, the Warriors open tournament play against Natomas at 3:30 p.m.

The Warriors will also play Sacramento High at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday and McClatchy and Foothill at 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., respectively, on Wednesday. All games will be played at D.C. Oliver Land Park No. 1.



Whittell has already played Nevada 4A power Wooster, Fernley and Dayton of the 3A and Bishop and Mammoth of California.

In their defeat to Dayton, four errors led to four Dust Devil unearned runs.



“We’re still not well defensively, but are bats our starting to come around,” said Whittell coach Don Amaral.

Leading the Warriors’ eight-hit attack was Marcus Mellberg with a two-run homer and Ryan Gosh with two hits. Brian Peate launched an RBI double and Carter Amaral delivered a run-scoring single.

Mellberg pitched three innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs. Peate worked two innings, surrendering two runs and Chris Shapiro pitched an inning, giving up two unearned runs.

Vikings nearly win season opener

South Tahoe lost a three-run lead at Damonte Ranch on Friday, denying the softball team a season-opening victory.

Damonte Ranch scored five runs in the final four innings for a 7-6 nonleague victory.

“They battled Damonte and we’re real pleased. It’s a team in our league that we can actually play with,” said STHS skipper Rich Barna.

The Vikings used a five-run fourth inning to wipe out a 2-0 Damonte Ranch lead. Andee Lacayo singled in Kelly Bartlett for the Vikings’ first run of the season. Shaylene McLaughlin followed with a two-double that scored Jen Bigelow and Lacayo, giving STHS a 3-2 lead. The Vikings weren’t through as Anna McCracken singled in McLaughlin and McCracken also came home when Danielle Lowe’s groundball was misplayed.

After Damonte Ranch scored twice to make the score 5-4, McCracken got a run back with a single that scored Lacayo.

Damonte scored two runs against McCracken in the fifth to tie it. Neither team scored in the sixth, even though the Vikings collected three singles and left runners in scoring position.

STHS was retired in order in the seventh. Damonte Ranch went right to work in its half of the seventh, putting runners on first and third with nobody out.

Barna then called for an intentional pass to Damonte’s cleanup hitter, but McCracken’s pitch was put into play, scoring the deciding run.

South Tahoe moved from nonleague to “major” league the next day in its visit to Reno. The Huskies swept the Sierra Division doubleheader, 20-0 and 16-1. Bartlett’s single was STHS’s only hit in the two games.

“We get better as the season goes, that’s what I key on as the coach. The more dirt we see, the better we’ll play,” Barna said. “We have three strong pitchers right now and as the defense gets better, these pitchers will keep us in the game.”

The Vikings (0-3) will play Carson City at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Warriors search for consistency

The defending Northern 2A regional champion Whittell High softball team continued to search for consistency at the Smith Valley tournament on Friday and Saturday.

Whittell (4-6) split its four games, losing to Hawthorne 11-7 and Wells 16-3 and defeating Eureka 13-0 and Lovelock 14-4.

A seven-run third inning enabled Hawthorne to avenge an earlier loss to Whittell.

“Hawthorne was able to put the ball in play and we weren’t able to get the outs,” said Whittell coach Lindsay Wines.

Freshman Abby Kingman led Whittell by going 3 for 3 and teammates Whitney Gielow and Courtney Fields provided two hits.

Abby Kingman blanked Eureka on two hits while her sister, Anna, tripled. Anna Kingman, Gielow and Fields all went 3 for 3 and Megan Esquivel was 2 for 3.

Wells led Whittell 7-3 after three innings but erupted for seven runs in the fourth to put the game out of reach. Anna Kingman continued her hot hitting with two hits, including a double.

“Her swing has really come back and it’s nice to see,” Wines said.

Whittell closed out the tournament with a 10-run verdict over league foe Lovelock. Tara Scaduto drove home five runs with two hits, including a game-ending, bases-clearing double.

“It’s her first year of softball, but we’re pretty happy with her athletic ability and that she was going to be able to help us out at some point,” Wines said.

Lovelock couldn’t get either Kingman out as Anna and Abby were a collective 6 for 6 at the plate. Abby knocked in three runs with a triple and double, while Anna cracked a double. Gielow and Katie Komorowski were busy at the plate as well, delivering two hits apiece. One of Komorowski’s two hits went for two bases and Gielow had two RBIs.

Whittell won’t play this week while on spring break and will return to action March 30 against Truckee at Lampe Park.


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