Eureka girls win 1 at tourney

The Lady Vandals opened the 2019 season March 15-16 participating in the Panther Invitational in Alamo with Beaver Dam, Wells, Pahranagat Valley and the White Pine JVs.

But the girls struggled in the games, losing to Beaver Dam, Pahranagat Valley and the White Pine JVs.

However, they did beat league rival Wells in their opening game on Friday.

Against the Leopards, the Vandals grabbed an early 6-3 lead, put five more runs on the board in the fifth inning and took an 11-4 win.

As reported by Gamechanger, in the big fifth inning, Eureka put the pressure on with walks by Gracie Garrett and Jenesis Dominguez and a single by Bree Hooper.

Dominguez was credited with the pitching victory. She gave up four runs on four hits, struck out four and walked four. She also retired the last 12 batters she faced to nail down the win.

Savannah Sanders and Shauna Brown each had two hits of Eureka.

Mackenzie Sethman was 2-for-2 for Wells.

The Friday evening game was against host and six-time defending state champion Pahranagat Valley, and the Panthers ambushed the Vandals like a big jungle cat, erupting for 11 runs in the first inning and handing Eureka an 18-3 loss. The game only went three innings because of the 15-run rule.

For Eureka, Sanders, Hooper and Josie Hoekenga had the only hits.

Saturday morning, Eureka faced the Beaver Dam Diamondbacks.

This was another game that only went three innings, because the Diamondbacks hit the Vandals with a 14-run first inning and added four more in the second inning. It simply was not the Vandal’s day. But the girls did put a couple of runs across the plate in the second inning. Final score: 18-2 in favor of Beaver Dam.

The final game Saturday afternoon was against the White Pine JVs. Again stats were not kept, but the Bobcats posted an 11-4 win, getting all their runs in the bottom of the first inning.

Eureka is on Spring Break this next week and their next games, weather permitting, are slated to be a couple of non-league visits from Tonopah April 5 and a double-header with Mineral County April 6.