Lady Vandals open season on a high note

The softball team for Eureka County High School has had two weekends full of games and they have not wasted any time increasing the number in the win column.

Eureka traveled to the Yerington Invitational on March 13 and 14 to play in its first softball games of the season. The Lady Vandals faired well against the competition as they won three out of the total four game over the weekend. Eureka beat Tonopah 7-1 in the first game of the tournament. They went on to beat Incline 10-2 and took care of Fernley JV 15-4.

The only loss came to division rival Wells as they fell by a final score of 5-0. The loss to Wells did not count as a division loss as it came in a pre-season tournament and not in league play.

This past weekend, March 21, Eureka softball traveled to Smith Valley to play its first league games of the season, a divisional double-header against the Lady Bulldogs.

Annette Hayward pitched the first game for Eureka and had a great outing. Hayward struck out six and faced only 18 batters the entire game. The solid pitching and lively bats in the first game for the Lady Vandals helped them cruise to a 15-1 victory.

The second game featured CC Brown pitching for the Lady Vandals as she turned in another stellar performance pitching against Smith Valley. Brown struck out an impressive nine batters and only threw 93 total pitches. Eureka dismantled Smith Valley once again in the second game of the double-header 15-3. The pitchers were backed up by the great hitting that was on display by the Lady Vandals against Smith Valley. Catcher Angela Porter went 7-10 on the day with four RBI’s. Shortstop Taylor Anderson went 5-10 on the day including a triple, while Annette Hayward went 4-9 with three RBI’s. Eureka swept the league double-header and puts their league record at 2-0.

The Lady Vandals made it to the state championship game last year where they fell to Pahranagat Valley.
Theyseem as if they haven’t fallen off track to make it back to the state tournament with their impressive start to the 2015 season.

“We only lost two players from last years’ team and we have a great core group of girls,” coach Mary Jane Hodson explained. “This group of girls have played together for a few years and can read each other fairly well, which gives a great advantage on the field.”

Early success for Eureka excites thoughts of making it back to the title game and winning it this time. Hodson finished by stating, “It’s going to be a great season and with a lot of home games starting in April, it should prove to be very exciting for our fans.”