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Bulldogs Defeat Pirates In Rivalry Match-Up

By BOB SNELL

The Progress

VVHS athlete Riley Price bats for the Bulldogs while Ellie Cornwall plays catcher for the Pirates in a rivalry game played last week in Mesquite. PHOTO COURTESY OF DAMON JACKSON

Not even rain was going to stop rivals Virgin Valley and Moapa Valley from playing softball on Friday afternoon, April 22 at Bulldog Diamond in Mesquite.

After an early afternoon rainstorm, the two teams were able to squeeze in the contest before the rains came again just as the final out was recorded in Virgin Valley’s 5-0 victory.

The result extended the Lady Bulldogs’ winning streak to 23 games and improved their overall record to 25-1. The loss dropped the Lady Pirates to 14-3 overall, with two of those losses coming against their rival.
“I was just hoping to hurry and get that last out,” VVHS head coach Travis Griffiths said. “When that thunder came and it started to rain I thought, please don’t call the game now.”

Junior Riley Price went the distance inside the circle for the Lady Bulldogs. The right-hander scattered six hits, did not walk a batter and struck out seven in notching her 20th win of the season. She also induced six ground balls hit back to the mound in accounting for 13 of the 21 Moapa Valley outs.
Virgin Valley’s defense also stepped up by turning two double plays and picking a runner off of third base.
“I thought our girls did a good job,” Griffiths said. “They played solid defense behind Riley.”

The Lady Pirates threatened in the first three innings with five base hits and had a runner reach third base twice, but came up empty.

In the first inning, two out singles by Emily Matheson and Edyn Bennett put runners at the corners for the Pirates, but a ground out ended the threat.

In the second, Lexy Fullman singled, stole second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch, but did not score.

In the third, freshman Emmy Cornwall singled but was erased on a double play. Later in the inning, Ellie Cornwall singled but was stranded on the base paths.

The Lady Bulldogs finally broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth taking advantage of three Moapa Valley errors to score three runs.

Ana Tausinga reached on an error and scored on a two-out single by Marli Wakefield. Destiny Moaei followed with a bloop double to shallow right field. Both runners scored after the play on consecutive throwing errors to put VVHS up 3-0.

Virgin Valley added a run in the fifth to up its lead to 4-0. Reggi Frei tripled and scored on Natalie Plancarte’s sacrifice fly to shallow right field.

Moapa Valley threatened in the top of the sixth when Delaney Graham opened the frame with a double down the left-field line.

The Lady Bulldogs responded by turning a double play on a bunt attempt. Plancarte charged from third to grab the ball in midair and then fired the ball to second base where centerfielder Alex Covarrubias was covering to double off the runner.
“Natalie made a great play on that bunt,” Griffiths said. “She made the catch and waited for Alex to get to the bag and made a great throw.”

Virgin Valley closed out the scoring with a run in the bottom of the sixth. Tausinga walked and Evia Toone followed with an infield single. A throwing error on the play allowed Tausinga to score.
“This was a big win for us,” Griffiths said. “Moapa came to play. It was a battle. This should give us the top seed from our division.”

Virgin Valley now has a two-game lead over Moapa Valley in the 3A South Mountain Division standings with three league games remaining.

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