Maddison Hill clutched a softball in each hand as she and her teammates greeted their families, friends and one another on the softball field at Dayton High School last Saturday afternoon.
Moments before, tense moments of anticipation, anxiety and hope had turned to confusion, then finally joy tinged with a generous helping of relief as the Vaqueros beat Lowry 9-8 in the championship game of the 3A North Region Tournament.
“It feels very exciting and like the hard work has paid off, and I'm happy it was with this team,” Hill said.
Fernley will be the North No. 1 seed in the 3A State Tournament this week in Spanish Springs as they try to win their second consecutive state championship. The Vaqueros were scheduled to play Pahrump at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the first game of the double-elimination tournament.
Lowry was scheduled to play Virgin Valley at 3:30 p.m. The championship game is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, with the “if necessary” game to follow if neither team has lost twice.
In the deciding game of the regional tournament last Saturday, Emma Masters broke a 5-5 tie with a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning. Moments later, Hill blasted a 3-run homer to left field, her second of the day, to extend Fernley’s lead to 9-5.
“I did not expect that I was going to hit them, actually, but they both felt really good,” Hill said. “And I was just super excited that I got the scores up.”
But with two outs and nobody on base in the bottom of the seventh, Lowry mounted a rally. A walk and a single put two runners on base, then Lowry’s Peyton Anguiano doubled in a run to cut Fernley’s lead to 9-6. The next batter, Maite Bengochea, singled to drive in two more, cutting the Fernley lead to 9-8.
With the tying run on first base, Lowry’s Makinley Hislop was facing an 0-2 count when the game ended in controversy over a disputed call. Hislop swung at a pitch and the ball hit her near the waist and rolled toward third base in fair territory. The umpires ruled that she had swung and missed at a pitch that hit her for strike three.
Lowry players and coaches argued that Hislop hit the ball before it hit her, which would have made it a foul ball, but the umpires ruled that Hislop was out and the game was over.
Fernley players gathered around the pitcher’s circle to await the ruling before finally beginning their celebration.
“It’s an unfortunate, crazy ending,” Fernley coach Diane Chapin said.
The Vaqueros and Buckaroos played three similarly intense games in the tournament. Fernley beat Elko 10-4 and South Tahoe 18-3 on the first day of the tournament May 7. Lowry had a bye in the first round as the No. 1 seed and beat Debbie Smith Academy 15-0 in its first game.
In the semifinal round on Friday, the Vaqueros outlasted the Buckaroos, 7-5 in 11 innings, then Lowry won the first game Saturday, 17-13 in nine innings, to force the “if necessary” game.
“The girls fought through and kept working hard, and we relied on everybody, so that's a nice thing,” Diane Chapin said.
Masters and Hill each hit a home run in both games Saturday, and Grace Chapin added one. Chapin and Taylor Tollestrup hit home runs in Friday’s game.
Lowry led 4-0 in the top of the third in Friday’s semifinal game before Tollestrup launched a 3-run blast far beyond the fence in left-center field. Chapin’s home run in the fifth inning put Fernley ahead 5-4 until Hislop tied the game with a double in the fifth inning.
“I think if I didn't hit that home run, then we probably would have lost, but it definitely felt good to hit it,” Tollestrup said.
In the bottom of the seventh, Fernley second baseman Ximena Rodriguez made a diving stop of a ground ball that would have at least put Lowry runners on first and third. Instead, she shoveled the ball to Tollestrup for a double play to end the inning.
The Vaqueros were unable to get a runner on base in the seventh, eighth or ninth innings, and stranded a runner in the 10th. Lowry left the bases loaded in the ninth in their best chance to score in extra innings.
But in the 11th inning, an error and a walk put two runners on base with Tollestrup due to bat. Lowry instead opted to intentionally walk her, and Janessa Robinson took advantage, smashing a hard ground ball that deflected off Hislop’s glove. Robinson was called safe at first on a close play while Rodriguez and Lauren Smith scored.
“It feels good when they walk me in and my teammates come up and get a big hit,” Tollestrup said after being intentionally walked seven times in the three games. “I haven’t won a regional championship since freshman basketball, and I've been in a lot.”
Now the Vaqueros will try to win their second consecutive state title.
“It’s the ultimate goal to win state again,” Tollestrup said.
After three intense games against Lowry last weekend, Diane Chapin was already expecting more of the same this week.
“Lowry and us, we felt that we're the two best teams,” she said. “Carrying forward, we still think we're the two best teams here. So I see us battling all again next week.”
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