Lady Trojans take step back after winning streak

The Pahrump Valley Trojans softball team strung together a three-game winning streak after a rough 1-6 stretch to begin their 2022 season.

Since their poor start, the Trojans have won three of their last five games, including going 2-2 in their first four league games of the season.

The Lady Trojans opened their league play with a 10-8 road loss against Moapa Valley. After that game, Pahrump Valley won three games in a row, with two of those games being on the road.

Their winning streak started with a 10-9 victory in an away game against the Clark High School Chargers.

The high-scoring affair was back-and-forth from the very beginning.

The Chargers took an early 5-1 lead, which the Trojans battled back to eventually tie the game at 7-7 in the top of the sixth inning.

The Chargers took their second lead of the game with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to give them a 9-7 lead going into the final inning of the game.

In the top of the seventh inning, Pahrump Valley scored three runs to win the game with a 10-9 score.

Following that game, the Trojans hosted the Canyon Springs Pioneers in the first home league game of the season.

This game was all Pahrump from the very start.

The Trojans were led by Ava Charles, who hit a 2-run home run on the way to a 15-0 win for Pahrump over the Pioneers.

Ciara Stragand got the start for the Trojans and pitched a great game.

Their next game went much the same way, perhaps even better for the Trojans.

They traveled to the Las Vegas area to take on the Sunrise Mountain Miners. Charles got the start on the mound for the Trojans.

She pitched a complete game while striking out eight of the nine batters she faced. Every batter on the team was able to reach base safely with a hit against the Miners pitchers.

The Trojans went on to win the game by a score of 17-0.

Since the win against the Miners, the Trojans haven’t found much luck on either side of the ball.

In their last two games, the Trojans have been outscored by a combined 25-3.

On Friday, Pahrump Valley dropped a home league game to the 3A South Mountain division-leading Virgin Valley Bulldogs. This is the only meeting between the two schools during the regular season this year.

Pahrump Valley managed just two hits against the Bulldogs’ pitcher.

While the game was scoreless for the first two innings, Virgin Valley broke it open with a combined nine runs between the third and fourth innings.

Pahrump would fall to the Bulldogs by a score of 12-0.

In the Trojans’ most recent game, they played the Sierra Vista Mountain Lions on Monday, March 28. This was the second meeting between these two teams this season. They previously met in an 11-1 Sierra Vista win during the season-opening tournament in Arizona.

Monday’s game went much the same way. Charles struggled on the mound early with her control, which led to the Mountain Lions putting three runs on the board in the first inning.

Charles went on to pitch four innings while surrendering 10 hits and allowing nine runs to score.

At the plate, Charles went 1-for-2 with a single and a sacrifice flyout that helped score DeAnna Egan from third base.

Shania Hopkins had a big hit for the Trojans in the fourth inning. With a runner on first base, she lined a shot to the outfield fence to give her an RBI triple. She would later score on a single by Haven Nelson.

Unfortunately, the Trojans weren’t able to get much going with the bats. They fell to the Mountain Lions by a score of 13-3.

As you’re reading this, the Lady Trojans played a game against The Meadows on Tuesday night. You can check MaxPreps.com for the final score of the game.

The next game will be on Thursday, March 31, when the Trojans play host to the SLAM Bulls. This will be the first of two regular season meetings between these two schools. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.