Bulldog pitcher Savannah Price stares down an Indian batter during the Dawgs 7-6 win Friday night, March 11 in the Dawg Pound. Price also had two hits for the Bulldogs. Photo by Lou Martin.

Bulldog pitcher Savannah Price stares down an Indian batter during the Dawgs 7-6 win Friday night, March 11 in the Dawg Pound. Price also had two hits for the Bulldogs. Photo by Lou Martin.

The Virgin Valley High School Bulldog softball team recovered from a loss Thursday in a non-pool game to defeat two opponents on Friday to advance to Saturday’s championship game against southern California powerhouse St. Aquinas who have never lost a Desert Winds Classic game.

 Virgin Valley High School Lady Bulldogs behind the pitching of ace Adri Wakefield came back from a 5-1 deficit to defeat the Chaparral High School Lady Cowboys 10-6 in the opening of pool play Friday afternoon, March 11 in the Dawg Pound. The Cowboys went up early with one run in the first two innings and three in the top of the first to take a 5-1 lead.

“Were not as advanced as I thought we would be,” said Bulldog coach Travis Griffith. “We seem scared and tentative in our play. Some of our most experienced players are making mistakes which they normally don’t make.”

Despite the early mistakes the Dawgs put seven runs on the board in the bottom of the third inning to take an 8-3 lead. Bulldog leftfielder Calee Clem began the inning with a triple, Shalee Hafen followed with an R.B.I. single, and Jesse Barnum added a single. A walk and an error loaded the bases for Taylor Barnum who proceeded to clear them with a home run. Before the dust cleared, no pun intended on a blustery day, the Dawgs had seven runs in the inning to take an 8-5 advantage going into the fourth inning.

The Cowboys added a run in the fourth on zero hits to cut the Dawgs lead to 8-6. The Bulldogs scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning before the umpires called the game at 10-6. Taylor Barnum had five runs batted in to lead the Dawgs and pitcher Wakefield threw a complete game allowing only one earned run on a one-hitter. The win set up a later game against the Elko Indians of northeast Nevada.

 

Lady Bulldogs rally to defeat Elko 7-6

“It was a good win for the girls,” said Bulldog coach Travis Griffith after his Virgin Valley High School Lady Bulldogs rallied to defeat Elko 7-6 late Friday to reach the Desert Winds championship game. The Indians scored an unearned run in the first inning and followed up with five more runs in the next two innings to take a 6-1 lead going into the bottom of the third inning.

The Bulldogs loaded the bases with two outs before Taylor Barnum brought them all home on a hit plus errors by the Indians. Barnum scored on the play cutting the Indians lead to 6-5 after three innings of play. The Bulldogs tied the score on a triple in the fifth inning and took the lead 7-6 on a passed ball.

The Indians loaded the bases with no-outs in the top of the fifth inning before Bulldog pitcher Savannah Price took over the game. Price struck out the next two batters setting up an exciting finish. The Elko coach put the game on the line, calling for a ‘suicide squeeze’ from his batter. The batter missed the ball allowing Bulldog catcher Tylee Robison to make the tag on the oncoming Indian ending the game. The play pushed the Bulldog players and faithful into celebration. Price led the Dawgs with two hits setting up the match with St. Aquinas.