Virgin Valley kenneled behind Hayes’ dominant performances, sweep split series

What could be sweeter than the boys sweeping Virgin Valley to open up this year’s league play?

Oh, I know. The girls also sweeping the Bulldogs in their two-game split.

Bringing the broomsticks over 144 miles with them to Mesquite, the girls shut out Virgin Valley completely following the two runs that scored in the bottom of the first inning.

Trojans freshman superstar Jaycie Hayes’ arm must be partly bionic as the hard-throwing starting pitcher rolled through another strong seven innings, striking out 12 while allowing six hits, two runs (one earned) and three walks.

In the past two appearances Hayes has made in the circle, Nevada’s leading strikeout leader has accumulated 27 strikeouts in her past 42 innings pitched, a whopping 64.3% of hitters she has faced recently.

“I’ve been there as a coach and as a parent, and honestly, it’s nice knowing she doesn’t really walk anybody. She doesn’t put people on base,” Trojans head coach Brian Hayes said. “I could probably go back and look at her walks and say half of them were strikes that the umpire missed.”

Jumping on an immediate error by Bulldogs junior first baseman Ava Noel with two outs in the top of the first inning, the Trojans were able to get Olivia Veloz and Riley Saldana to score to take an early 2-0 lead.

Virgin Valley wasted no time responding in the bottom of the first inning, stringing together timely back-to-back singles while staying aggressive on the base paths.

After a leadoff single by Bulldog junior Mady Wright, she advanced quickly to second on a wild pitch, immediately putting pressure on the Trojans defense.

Sophomore third baseman Raylynn Woods followed with a sharp single to left field, bringing Wright home to tie the game.

Woods then took second on the throw, keeping herself in scoring position.

The pressure bubbled as Woods stole third base and eventually came home on a passed ball, giving Virgin Valley a 2-2 tie without the benefit of another hit.

Despite the early surge, the inning began to unravel from there.

Bulldogs senior Julia Leavitt struck out for the first out, though senior Davie Jo Slack briefly reignited the rally with a double to center field, placing another runner in scoring position.

However, the momentum stalled as the next two batters, senior Hayden Owsley and junior Ava Noel, were both retired on strikeouts.

“Sometimes, if you’re hearing their bench, it’s because ours is quiet—and a lot of times ours is quiet because they’re loud,” Hayes said. “Usually teams are loud when they’re winning or make a good play, and that really didn’t happen today.”

An RBI single by Sadie Freeman knocked in Veloz, the courtesy runner for Hayes to give Pahrump a one-run lead in the top of the third frame.

Despite threatening earlier, the Trojans would put it all together in the top of the sixth to put away the Bulldogs.

The inning began with promise as sophomore catcher Mariah Gray reached on a single, but momentum quickly stalled when junior Dakota Glenn was ruled out for offensive interference.

A fly out followed, though a wild pitch moved courtesy runner senior Myah Krolczyk into scoring position at second.

After Saldana was hit by a pitch, Pahrump Valley was left with two runners on with two outs but still needed a clutch hit.

Again with two outs, the hit came in a big way.

Hayes delivered a line-drive double to center field, bringing home both Saldana andd Krolcyzk to give Pahrump Valley a 5–2 lead.

The offense wasn’t through yet as junior Evalenne Armendariz followed with another double to right field, scoring the courtesy runner Veloz to extend the lead to 6–2.

“Honestly, we were in position almost the entire game to have a big inning, and we just never got the big hit. It was good to see it happen—and not only did it happen, we got two big hits in a row,” Trojans head coach Brian Hayes said. “Jaycie had a hit, and then Evelenne had a hit. Earlier Sadie had a big hit early in the game that gave us that extra run.”

Going down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth, the Bulldogs remained scrappy in their final three outs as Leavitt and Slack recorded consecutive singles with two outs before Hayes got senior Hayden Owsley to strike out to end the game.

Looking ahead

“We’re trying to give them two days of rest because our preseason schedule was so rigorous—three out-of-state tournaments in a row,” Hayes said. “Next week isn’t very strong schedule-wise, so we’re trying to figure out how to handle Democracy Prep.”

Contact Jacob Powers at jpowers@pvtimes.com. Follow @jaypowers__ on X.