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They did everything but secure their first Scenic West Athletic Conference softball victory in a month.
Salt Lake pushed two runs across the plate in the seventh inning to rally for a 4-3 victory over the Western Nevada College Wildcats on Saturday afternoon in Salt Lake City.

“To have the lead all the way and to end it like that was devastating,” said WNC coach Leah Wentworth. “I’m happy we put ourselves in position to win. We need experiences like that, and moving forward, we need to learn from it.”

It wasn’t the desired result Western Nevada College was looking for prior to a four-game Scenic West Athletic Conference baseball series showdown with Salt Lake, but the Wildcats did something no other team has done this season — win in Salt Lake City.

The Wildcats gained a series split by outlasting the Bruins 7-5 in the final game Saturday. Needing a doubleheader sweep to creep within a game of first-place Salt Lake, WNC wasn’t counting on a shaky defense hurting its cause.

Seeing their chances of winning the Scenic West Athletic Conference baseball title diminishing with a first-game defeat to Salt Lake on Friday, the Western Nevada College Wildcats pulled off a crucial 5-3 victory to stay in contention.

Jams don’t get much more stressful than the one relief pitcher Spencer Greer dealt with on Saturday afternoon at John L. Harvey Field in Carson City.

The Western Nevada College sophomore was protecting a one-run lead against College of Southern Idaho with the potential tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with two outs in the top of the seventh inning.

With a base open, Greer instead focused on cleanup hitter R.J. Bush, retiring him looking at a third-strike curveball.

Through 13 innings of a Scenic West Athletic Conference baseball doubleheader on Friday, College of Southern Idaho denied Western Nevada College from putting a crooked number on the scoreboard. But with one swing by Alex Fife that changed as his homer brought in three runs, helping the Wildcats to a doubleheader split.

Fife’s homer was part of a four-run seventh inning that snapped a 1-1 tie and propelled the Wildcats to a 5-1 victory at John L. Harvey Field in Carson CIty. The Golden Eagles won the opener 6-2 behind the pitching of southpaw Kolton Brost.

After a silent day for the Western Nevada College bats on Friday, the Wildcats woke up offensively against 14th-ranked College of Southern Idaho on Saturday in Twins Falls, Idaho.

With eight different Wildcats delivering a hit in the opening game, the Carson City Western Nevada College team scored seven times in a 17-7 defeat. CSI completed the four-game Scenic West Athletic Conference sweep with a 14-3 victory in game two.

Western Nevada College moved into second place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference baseball standings by winning a four-game series from host College of Southern Nevada on Thursday and Friday in Henderson.

The Wildcats, based in Carson City, won the first three games of the series before the Coyotes edged WNC 4-3 Friday to deny a sweep. WNC improved to 7-5 in the SWAC, trailing only Salt Lake (11-2). CSN is 4-8 in conference play.

Three mercy-rule-shortened games against seventh-ranked College of Southern Nevada didn’t demoralize the Western Nevada College softball team on Saturday in Henderson.

Freshman pitcher Katilyn Covione blanked the Coyotes for four innings, and the Wildcats had the tying and possible winning runs in scoring positions in the final inning before CSN nailed down a 3-2 Scenic West Athletic Conference victory.

The Coyotes started their Saturday sweep with a five-inning 11-2 victory.

The Western Nevada College Wildcats may look back to Friday, March 14 as a pivotal point in their season. Two dramatic walk-off victories gave the Wildcats a momentum boost that inspired them to workmanlike 17-2 and 7-5 nonconference wins over Mount Hood Community College of Gresham, Ore., on Saturday in Carson City.

The four-game sweep improved WNC’s overall record to 19-9 and righted the club after splitting four games the previous weekend at Colorado Northwestern.

Sophomores Jenny Rechel and Heather Septon slugged home runs, but Western Nevada College lost both ends of a softball doubleheader to seventh-ranked College of Southern Nevada by identical 11-3 scores on Friday in Henderson.

The wins moved the Coyotes (16-6) into a first-place tie with College of Southern Idaho (17-7) in the Scenic West Athletic Conference standings. WNC’s SWAC record dropped to 6-15.

The Western Nevada College baseball team turned turned two tight contests into victories with walk-off home runs on both ends of a doubleheader Friday afternoon in Carson City.

The Wildcats won 6-5 and 9-6 over Mount Hood Community College of Oregon. The series continues Saturday with a doubleheader at John L. Harvey Field beginning at noon.

Western Nevada College Wildcats Softball hosted Snow College from Ephraim, Utah Friday at Edmonds Sports Complex in Carson City. WNC entered the series just one game behind Snow in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, and remained that way, splitting Friday’s doubleheader.

In game one, the Wildcats topped Snow 3-1, with Meghan Hospodka hitting a three run homer to win it for WNC. In the second game, Snow College rallied to win 12-4, despite two home runs by Wildcat Hali Bennion. Carlee Beck pitched both games for WNC.

Pitching decided the outcomes of a Scenic West Athletic Conference-opening baseball doubleheader Saturday at John L. Harvey Field in Carson City.

Freshman right-hander Max Karnos pitched a four-hit complete game to provide Western Nevada College with a 7-1 victory over Salt Lake in the opener, but the Bruins battled back for a 6-2 win in game two behind the stingy hurling of Jason Jourdan and Eric Carter.

“Salt Lake has a good team. We each won one; that’s about right,” WNC coach D.J. Whittemore said.

Talk about having your back against the wall and responding. Western Nevada College trailed Colorado Northwestern 3-0 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning on Saturday night in Henderson and still found a way to win.

After scoring 21 runs in their previous game, the Western Nevada College Wildcats ran into a pitcher on Friday that kept them off-balance.

Salt Lake Community College freshman right-hander Jason Jourdan checked the 14th-ranked Wildcats on two hits through seven innings en route to the Bruins’ 4-3 baseball victory in Henderson.

Western Nevada College of Carson City took a one-run lead in the eighth inning, but Riverside rallied for a 4-3 baseball victory on Friday night in Riverside, Calif.

Pinch-hitter Paul Martinez tied the game with a run-scoring single in the eighth inning, and the Tigers won it when Jeremy Alderman’s first pitch on an attempted intentional walk with runners on third and second bases sailed to the backstop.

South Lake Tahoe's hometown girl Jamie Anderson cleaned up her second run to earn the first-ever women’s slopestyle snowboarding gold medal Sunday at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games.

Playing to the beat of your own rhythm comes from years of watching how others do it and then improvising to set a course of your own.

When it comes to making perfect pitch, where melody and harmony fit together organically, Vince Gates has turned his Carson City music store into the equivalent of a six-piece power band that customers can't seem to get enough of.

Clinging to a one-run lead with the bases loaded and no one out on Sunday afternoon, the Western Nevada College baseball team had one goal — avoid a sweep on their opening weekend.

Freshman pitcher Dylan Francis complied, retiring the next three South Mountain College hitters to preserve the Wildcats’ 7-6 victory in Phoenix, and a 1-2 weekend.

“Making the pitches he made with the bases loaded was really remarkable. He deserves a ton of credit and praise for his effort,” said WNC coach D.J. Whittemore.

I am adamantly opposed to the 1/8 cent tax increase to fund proposed city projects. I resent the efforts of city staff to “bundle” these projects, falsely represent them as necessary, and, by omission, deceive voters as to the true costs of these efforts. While at the work shop on January 21st, no one could tell me where the tax budget shortfall was for these projects, and there was no clearly demonstrable need.

Western Nevada College Carson City is offering youth piano classes in its high-tech, digital piano laboratory this spring semester. Youth can now enroll for classes in the same Clavinova lab that is a favorite with college students.

Professional pianist Sue Kinney teaches the classes on Friday afternoons. Beginning classes for Kindergarteners and first graders are offered from 4:30-5:20, p.m., second and third graders meet from 5:30-6:20 p.m., and fourth to sixth graders meet from 3:30-4:20 p.m.

The Western Nevada College softball team’s bullpen just got stronger. Carson High School grad Lindsey Ashbaugh, who played softball at Feather River College in California last year, is coming home to pitch for the Wildcats in 2014.

Wentworth said she is very pleased with the news. The right-hander gives the Wildcats an experienced and proven college pitcher to complement another established sophomore, Carlee Beck, and three freshmen hurlers.

“It’s nice to have someone with maturity at this level. It takes some time to adjust to the next level,” Wentworth said.

More than 1,100 selections went by in the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft before the Baltimore Orioles chose Western Nevada College freshman outfielder Conor Harber on Saturday.

It marked the ninth straight year that the Wildcats have had at least one player taken in the 40-round draft. The 2009 draft was the only other time that the Wildcats didn’t have multiple current or past players selected.

Harber, who could play another season at WNC, start a pro career in the minors or sign with a four-year school, was taken by the Orioles with the 1,149th pick in the 38th round.

Western Nevada College advanced to the Western District baseball tournament championship round by splitting a pair of games on Friday in Sterling, Colo.

The Wildcats dropped into losers’ bracket with a 4-2 defeat to sixth-ranked Cochise, Ariz., on Friday morning but ousted Lamar with a 9-1 afternoon victory.

WNC (43-19) earned another shot at Cochise behind the pitching of Christian Stolo and Evan Parker, as well as a six-run fifth inning.

The situation looked discouraging for the Western Nevada College Wildcats in the second inning of their Western District baseball tournament opener in Sterling, Colo., Thursday afternoon.

Lamar Community College was in command, 5-0, after knocking starting pitcher Brandon Show out of the game. WNC had committed two errors and the Lopes’ ace, Sam Wilson, was throwing the Wildcat hitters off stride.

There is no place like someone else’s home, at least for the Western Nevada College baseball team. Since March 23, the Wildcats have played 19 of 23 games on the road, compiling an 18-5 record.

That ability to focus and excel away from home will come in handy this weekend in Sterling, Colo., as the Wildcats pursue their second straight Western District Championship and a berth in the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series.

Cody Hamlin scattered seven hits and struck out 10 and Joseph Crunkilton homered as Western Nevada College rallied for a 3-1 victory over Salt Lake in the Region 18 baseball tournament on Thursday in Henderson.

The victory sends the Wildcats (39-18) into a winners’ bracket matchup with tournament host College of Southern Nevada, which routed College of Southern Idaho 10-1, at noon Friday.

The teams quickly settled into a fast-paced pitchers’ duel between Hamlin and Brady Corless.

CARSON CITY - Halfway through the 2013 Nevada Legislative Session, a little levity may be in order. As things heat up inside the legislative chambers, members of the Nevada Assembly and Senate will take it outside on Thursday afternoon and de-stress at the biennial Legislative Softball Game.

For the third time, the event will take place at John L. Harvey Field on the campus of Western Nevada College, in the capital city. The first pitch will be at approximately 5 p.m. Admission is free.

Any chance that Western Nevada College would suffer a letdown against Colorado Northwestern after a road sweep over defending Scenic West Athletic Conference champion Salt Lake was knocked out of the park. Instead, the Wildcats erupted for 46 runs and a weekend sweep.

AJ Hernandez hit two home runs, Conor Harber wore out opposing pitchers, and five Wildcats threw multiple scoreless innings Western extended its win streak to eight games.

For the first time in program history, the Western Nevada College baseball team will open its season at home.

A rainy forecast in Las Vegas has prompted WNC and South Mountain Community College to move their Friday and Saturday doubleheaders to John L. Harvey Field in Carson City.

“I hope to see the faithful at the yard for 50-degree temperatures tomorrow,” said WNC baseball coach D.J. Whittemore.

Doubleheaders are scheduled for 11 a.m. both days.