Northern Teams Edge Bulldogs Out of State

By DAVE BELCHER

The Progress

The Virgin Valley High School softball team hosted the state softball tournament last week and, as 3A Southern Region Champions, the team hoped to win the state title. But it was not to be this year.
After going undefeated against all southern contenders throughout the season, things unravelled for the Bulldogs against two tough northern teams in the State tournament and the Dawgs dropped from the tournament in the semifinal round.

The tournament started with Bulldogs facing the Lowry Buckaroos on Thursday, May 18. The Dawgs came away with a 7-5 win thanks to a Buckaroo pitching change.

Lowry held a 4-2 lead headed into the sixth inning when they started walking batters. Virgin Valley scored five runs and held a 7-4 lead.

Lowry had an incredible offensive performance by Savannah Stoker who hit two 2-run homers then scored the fifth run in the seventh after Guinzer singled her in from second.

Bulldog pitcher Riley Price got the win going seven innings with 11 strikeouts and allowing 5 runs.
Ari Easton had two hits for the Dawgs with Reggi Frei finishing with 2 RBI’s.
The win put the Dawgs into the second round, just a win away from the state title game.

But North Valleys, the northern region champion who had beaten Pahrump in the first round, proved to be a challenge for the Bulldogs in the second round game on Friday.

Virgin Valley scored the first run after Ari Easton reached first then stole second. Frei doubled to score Easton for the Dawgs lone run. Frei had three of the four Bulldogs hits for the game.
It took until the sixth inning before North Valleys scored the game tying run. Gainey walked, then stole second and scored on a Virgin Valley error.

North Valleys won the game in the 10th when Byram doubled and was replaced by Alison. She advanced to third on a ground out and scored on another ground out for the win.

Virgin Valley lost their first game of the season after a three up and three down bottom of the 10th.
This game was a pitching classic. Price finished with 15 strikeouts while Byram had 18 for the Panthers.

Their momentum disrupted, the Bulldogs finished the season with a 3-2 loss to Lowry on Friday afternoon.

Montoya started the first inning off with a two run homer, their only runs of the game. Stoker continued her performance by scoring twice on two hits.

Lowry scored one run in the third and won the game in the top of the seventh with two more runs ending the Dawgs Season.
Both pitchers had 6 strikeouts.

Lowry went on to beat North Valleys in the first game 18-8. But it wasn’t over yet. The Buckaroos would need to beat the North Valleys team twice in this double elimination tournament. In the final game, North Valleys came back and beat Lowry 9-3 to win their first state softball title.