Trojans shut out Cheyenne; win another wild game

After senior Jordan Egan hit a double in the fourth inning, driving two runs home, a coach for Cheyenne could be heard yelling at his pitcher, “Why did you pitch to that girl!”

Why indeed. Egan has hit five home runs this season and is one of the reasons the Trojans are doing so well in the hitting department. Things just didn’t go well for Cheyenne, as they lost to the Trojans 15-0 on Wednesday on the Trojans’ home field.

Prior to the Cheyenne game, the girls had scored 150 runs.

The game was called in the fourth inning due to the 15-run mercy rule, a rule which states that if the game is unbalanced and one team has a 15-run lead by the end of the third inning, the game can be called. In the last five games for Pahrump this rule has been invoked because the Trojans had scored so many runs.

Junior pitcher Amaya Mendoza did a great job of shutting out the Desert Shields, pitching four scoreless innings.

Despite scoring fast and a lot of points this season, the Trojans started slow against Cheyenne.

“It has been a while that we haven’t scored in the first inning,” Trojans coach Eli Armendariz said. “But I was expecting the results we got today. Their pitcher had good velocity today and they surprised me when they took her out in the second. This was the third time we saw her and I knew we could hit her.”

After the second inning, the Trojans started piling on the runs. In the third, eight batters went to the plate and four runs were scored. In that inning, freshman Skyler Lauver led off with a single, Egan then hit a double, driving in Lauver. Jackie Stobbe and Evandy Murphy also got hits that scored runs.

Egan preferred the faster velocity of the first pitcher. The Desert Shields (4-4 overall, 1-1 Sunset League) took out their best pitcher and the Trojans (12-2, 2-0) then blew the game wide open in the fourth. The girls sent 13 batters to the plate. The first batters got on board by walking. All four were driven in by five hits in that inning and two errors by Cheyenne and when the dust settled, the Trojans had scored 10 runs to end the game in the fourth. Egan came up twice in the fourth, walking first and then hitting a double off the second pitcher.

“I was actually struggling with the second pitcher because she was a lot slower and I kept fouling and pulling the ball,” she said. “It required a lot of patience, especially when I get happy feet when I get out there.”

The happy feet refers to having runners on the bases when she hits.

Egan and Lauver both had hot bats, with Egan hitting two doubles, one single and walking and scoring at least three runs in the game. Lauver also had two hits and a walk and scored three times.

Lauver talked about hitting number two in the lineup for the Trojans as a freshman.

“I like hitting second in the lineup because I have time to prepare to hit and it’s not too deep in the lineup hitting second,” she said. “In the fall, making the team during fall season was my goal. I am really glad I was able to achieve that.”

She said playing as a freshman and for her dad, who is an assistant coach, is not too much pressure.

“I am really enjoying the season so far,” Lauver said.

Pahrump Valley, according to Armendariz, will be the team to beat in the Class 3A Southern region. He said his team will be looking at great pitching during the spring break as they play in the Centennial Spring Jamboree, which will showcase many of the top teams in the region.

“It will give our hitters a chance to see some great pitching and it will prepare us for the playoffs,” Armendariz said.

The Trojans play their third game this week against Western (3-5, 1-1) on the road.

Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com