Muckers softball off to great start

The Tonopah High School softball team is off to a great start after their 16-1 win against the Pahrump Lady Trojans’ junior varsity team last Friday.

The Lady Muckers are now 4-0-1 after their win last week. This is the second consecutive season Tonopah has won four of their first five games to start the season.

Last year, Tonopah won five games in a row after dropping their season opener against White Pine.

This year, the Muckers’ only non-win was a 13-13 tie against the Laughlin Lady Cougars in the season-opening tournament.

Tonopah came away from the tournament with a 3-0-1 record with huge wins over Mountain View Christian (20-5), Wells (24-4) and Round Mountain (12-4).

Senior Montana Strozzi led the way for the Muckers.

She ended the 4-game tournament with a .727 batting average, going 8-for-11, with two doubles and nine runs batted in.

After losing both of their starting pitchers from last season, head coach John Klapper and the Lady Muckers have turned to senior Strozzi and junior Savanna Muns to lead the way on the mound.

Muns has pitched eight innings over her three appearances this season. She has allowed eight runs on just five hits while striking out six batters.

Strozzi has made four appearances for the Lady Muckers this season. After getting roughed up for nine runs in the first inning against Laughlin to start the season, she has only allowed six runs over the last 10 innings.

The Muckers will play their first home games of the season this Friday, March 17, when the Lady Hornets of Beatty come to town for a doubleheader.

This is the first time Beatty is fielding a softball team in more than 10 years.

The games are scheduled to begin at 1 and 3 p.m.

Contact sports writer/editor Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com. Follow @the_dannysmyth on Twitter.