By GANNON HANEVOLD
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley High School Softball team entered the double elimination State Championship tournament last week as the second seed from the south. It was the third time in school history that the Pirate team was entering the State contention.
The Pirates were slated to play the top seed from the north, the Fernley Vaqueros. The North’s second seed, the Lowry Buckaroos, took on Pahrump Valley later that afternoon.
It was a wild day for weather with winds howling and a period of rain. But despite a short lightning delay that set the game back a bit, the Pirates met the Vaqueros on Thursday afternoon on the host Virgin Valley High School field in Mesquite.
The Pirates seemed just simply outmatched in this first round game. In the first inning, both sides flexed their impressive defenses, both in terms of pitching and fielding.
However, in the second, the Vaqueros exposed a couple of lapses by Moapa and the Pirates began to spiral early as they collected an error and three walks in one inning.
With a 5-0 deficit just two innings into the game, Moapa Valley was in a hole.
An Abbie Evans RBI helped to narrow the deficit scoring Emilie Barraza. But it was the last that the fans saw of a Pirate offense. The hitting from Moapa was ice cold and the Vaqueros took advantage, winning the game 11-1 in just five innings.
“Their pitcher was good and we made four or five errors that were uncharacteristic,” saids MVHS coach Matt Messer. “If you don’t play good defense when you play good teams, you’re going to be in trouble. Mentally, I think their experience beat us and we beat ourselves.”
A day later, the Pirates had another chance at climbing the bracket to the state title game. To do so, they would have to win their way through the loser’s bracket. Matched against the Lowry Buckaroos, who had fallen to Pahrump Valley a day earlier, the Pirates were ready to get their first state tournament win.
There was a much different atmosphere early on. Rather than playing on their heels, Moapa looked to be the alpha on the diamond through the first few innings. Barraza’s lights-out pitching combined with efficient fielding painted a cake-walk like picture of what the game could eventually be.
Offensively, the story was no different. Sierra Staheli’s solo home run in the third, her first of the season, made the score 4-1 for Moapa Valley.
But Lowry rallied to tie the game 4-4 in the same inning.
The fences kept calling, though, for the Pirates. Abbie Evans sent a ball skyward with Lainey Cornwall waiting on second base. It was Moapa’s second home run of the afternoon giving the Pirates a 6-4 lead.
Moapa loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth, but a double play to end the inning gave momentum to the Bucks.
Lowry carried that confidence into an explosive sixth inning where the game’s entire attitude changed. Suddenly, the Pirates were set back on their heels. That energy fueled a three run moonshot by Delanie Thompson to give the Buckaroos a 9-7 lead.
In the final two innings, the Pirate offense saw six batters and six outs. The season came to an end.
“Offensively, we were in pretty good shape and we played good defense,” Messer said. “That one inning, they just hit the ball a little better than we did.”
“These girls aren’t used to getting this opportunity,” Messer said of the State tournament. “So whether it ends well or not, it’s great experience for us.”
With this loss, the team bid farewell to three seniors, all of which started through the entire season. Messer addressed the leadership left behind by Emilie Barraza, Lainey Cornwall, and Sierra Staheli.
“They’re not exactly your cheerleader types but instead they lead by example,” Messer said. “They expect their teammates to practice hard. They helped our underclassmen improve this whole year and they left that legacy to be picked up.”
Looking ahead, the Pirates still have a very young core that should bring them back to another season of contending. The impact made by Staheli, Cornwall, and Barraza will be felt for years to come.
