VVHS Softball Wins Mountain League Championship

By BOB SNELL

The Progress

The Virgin Valley High School Girls Softball team officially clinched the 3A South Mountain League championship by pummeling Canyon Springs, 16-0, on Tuesday, April 26 in North Las Vegas.
The Lady Bulldogs also blanked Sunrise Mountain, 10-0, on Thursday in Las Vegas behind junior pitcher Riley Price who threw her fifth no-hitter of the season.

The two victories extended Virgin Valley’s winning streak to 25 and improved its overall record to 27-1 heading into the final week of the regular season.

By winning the league title, the Lady Bulldogs also earned the top seed in the upcoming 3A South Regional tournament which will be played May 9-13. The double-elimination tournament will be played at high school campuses across Southern Nevada with the higher seeded teams hosting games.

The top two teams from the regional tournament will advance to the 3A State Tournament May 19-21 in Reno.

In the win over Canyon Springs, Brooklin Montoya stroked two doubles while going 3-for-4 at the plate and driving in a run to help power the VVHS offense which collected 11 base hits.

The Lady Bulldogs scored four runs in the first inning, one in the second and 11 in the third while taking advantage of seven Canyon Springs errors. The game was called after three innings because of the NIAA mercy rule.

Reggi Frei also had a big day for the Lady Bulldogs collecting a home run and double, scoring four runs and driving in two. Price and Evia Toone both tripled and drove in two runs while Destiny Moaei and Natalie Plancarte each had two hits with Moaei hitting a triple and Plancarte a double.

Price went the distance inside the circle allowing just one hit, walking none and striking out seven batters.

In the victory over Sunrise Mountain, which ended after five innings because of the mercy rule, Price was overpowering, striking out 12 of the 16 batters she faced while issuing one walk.

Ana Tausinga had a big day at the plate going 3-for-3 with a double and driving in two runs. Frei added two hits and drove in a run while Toone and Price each tripled and drove in a run.

Virgin Valley scored five runs in the top of the first inning. Frei singled, stole second and third base and scored on a wild pitch. Marli Wakefield was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on an error to put VVHS up 2-0.

Tausinga doubled and Toone followed with an RBI triple. Toone would later score on an error. Ari Easton scored the final run of the inning on a throwing error after she singled and stole second base.
After playing Clark on Monday, Virgin Valley will host a non-league game against 2A Lincoln County on Wednesday at 3:30 pm at Bulldog Diamond in the regular-season finale.

The Lady Bulldogs will host a first round game of the regional tournament on May 9 at 4 p.m. at Bulldog Diamond.