Trojans softball start season strong

Solid pitching and hitting delivered three wins over the weekend and two more on Monday.

Trojans softball traveled down to the Colorado River Tournament in Arizona and went 3-2 overall and finished one point shy of making the semifinals. The team then traveled to Virgin Valley (2-4 overall) and swept the Bulldogs in a doubleheader, 10-1, 16-9.

Trojans coach Eli Armendariz said he had a pleasant trip to the weekend tourney.

“Our defense was really good,” the coach said. “We had some mental errors but overall we did well, and our pitching and hitting was strong.”

Armendariz said junior Jordan Egan, who had shoulder issues prior to the season, got a clear bill of health. She started at catcher and looked good defensively and offensively.

“Jordan even had a home run for us,” he said.

Armendariz’s team beat Needles (California) 6-4, Williams (Arizona) 17-2 and Chino Valley (Arizona) 9-1.

The Trojans (5-2 ) lost to two Division I teams from Las Vegas, Valley 4-0 and Legacy 5-4.

Armendariz said his infield is set with Egan at catcher, junior Leanne Kaiwi at third, sophomore Evandy Murphy at shortstop, freshman Jacki Stobbe at second and senior Lauren Koenig at first base. Sophomore Amaya Mendoza is on the mound.

In the outfield, starting at left field is senior Jessica Gray, senior Andi Bishop is in center and sophomore Kathy Niles is in right field.

At Virgin Valley, Gray led the team in hits in the first game with 2, and in the second game Jessica Pearson led the team with 3 hits. Krista Toomer and Remington Nicosia both had 2 hits.

A strong outing by pitcher Amaya Mendoza got the win in the second game, pitching 3 innings and allowing no runs. She also started the first game, pitching 3 innings and allowing no runs.

Pahrump is at Western (2-1) to start conference play on Tuesday and come home on Thursday for their first home game against Clark (0-1), which starts at 3:30 p.m.

Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com