Lady Trojans have problem finding offense

The Lady Trojans bats went silent against the Cheyenne Desert Shields in their second home game and first league game in a 2-1 loss.

The Pahrump Valley softball team in last week’s action had played three Division I teams, winning 2 games and losing one, scoring 23 runs in those three games, but could not make anything happen against Cheyenne.

Veteran junior Cheyenne pitcher, Alyssa Fata, seemed to have the Trojans number, shutting them out for six innings. The Trojans scored only 1 run in the 6th inning and had only 3 hits on the day.

The girls left runners on base in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th innings. According to Trojans Coach Ely Armendariz, the girls beat themselves. He said his team was just not able to generate the runs when they needed them. He also pointed out the team has played some games without slugger Maddison Hurley. He said if Hurley had been out in the outfield, Cheyenne might not have scored the second run.

Trojans pitcher Whitney Roderick had a good outing throwing 12 strikeouts.

Cheyenne Coach Teri Hernandez said she was happy with the win and enjoys the rivalry the two teams have.

“I wanted this game. We have a very new team, so with four returners the rest of the team does not understand the rivalry between the two teams. Personally, I knew what we were in for and I wanted this game. Our pitcher, Fata has been throwing hard, so she is our number one right now. We put pressure on their defense and made them make plays. That was key today and our girls played good defense today,” Hernandez said.

Cheyenne scored one run in the 3rd inning to make it 1-0. They put runners on second and third in the 4th inning and went ahead by 2 on a double by Kylie Clark.

The Trojans had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the 7th when Deliah Polnau got on due to a walk. She stole second but Fata made the last two batters fly out, Melanie Lawdensky and Bryanna Soliwoda for the last two outs.

Last week the team beat Legacy 8-4, lost to Desert Oasis 3-5 and beat Del Sol 12-0.

In the Legacy game Amanda Pryor had a hit, a double and a triple with 3 RBIs. Soliwoda had a double and Krystal Kaiwi had 3 hits and an RBI.

In the Del Sol game it was Pryor with a double and Krystal Kaiwi with a hit and a triple.

The Trojans are on the road on Wednesday at Clark and then come home to face Tech in a non-league game.