Senior Jordan Egan went 2-3 to help the Trojans softball team overpower Desert Pines 19-4 at home on Monday.
Egan hit a home run in her first at-bat, a line drive over the left field fence, driving two batters home. In her second at-bat, still in the first inning, Egan hit another blast that was a double, clearing the bases again, but she was called out trying to stretch the hit into a triple. In her last at bat, she hit a single.
Pahrump sent 14 girls to the plate in the first inning. The Jaguars pitcher walked six batters in the first and all of them scored. The Trojans jumped out to a 10-run lead in the first.
The new mercy rule was again called into play after the third inning with the Jaguars after the Trojans scored their 19th run, which put them 15 runs up. The new rule allows for umpires to call games that are totally unbalanced earlier than five innings.
The rule states that if a team reaches a 15-run lead after three innings, the game can be ended. The 10-run rule also still exists, which allows for a game to be called after five innings if a team has a 10-run lead.
The Trojans played Virgin Valley last week, and both games ended when the mercy rule was used.
The mercy rule was used in all eight games of Desert Pines (0-8 overall, 0-1 Sunset League).
Strong pitching by Trojans
The Trojans’ pitching was stellar. Krista Toomer pitched two solid innings and allowed no runs. She had a 1-2-3 inning in the first and faced only four batters in the second.
After the second inning, with the score 17-0, Trojans coach Eli Armendariz pulled the starters and pitched sophomore Taylor Egan. Despite allowing four runs to score, Egan looked great.
“She has great velocity on the ball,” Armendariz said.
She got the first two outs, but three errors by players not used to playing with each other allowed runs to be scored.
“I wanted to give these players playing time,” the coach said. “I wasn’t worried about losing and I knew these girls were not used to the positions I put them in. Besides, the team made up for the errors with their bats.”
Egan added that she was not worried either.
“I didn’t get upset,” she said. “I know what it’s like to be an infielder and I had confidence that the girls would get the last out. I just concentrated on hitting my locations.”
Egan said she was really enjoying this year because she gets to play on the same team as her older sister Jordan.
“We haven’t played together since I was eight years old,” she said. “I am really enjoying playing with her during her senior year.”
The Trojans (11-2, 1-0) host Cheyenne (4-3, 1-0) today at 3:30 p.m. for their second league game of the season. Cheyenne beat Sunrise Mountain 11-1 on Monday.
Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com