softball

The sample size was only five innings, but Western Nevada College's softball team proved in its season opener on Friday that it could go swing for swing with one of the top programs in the country.

Central Arizona, ranked 12th in the opening National Junior College Athletic Association poll, scored twice in the bottom of the fifth inning to squeak past the Wildcats, 15-14, in a rain-shortened opening game at the College of Southern Nevada Kickoff Classic in Henderson, Nev.

If its fall season portends what lies ahead, then Western Nevada College’s spring softball season should be teeming with excitement.

As their fall scrimmage schedule winds down, the Wildcats have demonstrated that they are a program on the rise, winning the past seven games. That winning streak has included series sweeps of Shasta College, Feather River College and the Nevada Stealth U-18 club.

If its fall season portends what will lies ahead, Western Nevada College’s spring softball season should be teeming with excitement.

As the fall scrimmage schedule winds down, the Wildcats have demonstrated that it is a program on the rise, winning the past seven scrimmages. That winning streak has included series sweeps of Shasta College, Feather River College and the Nevada Stealth U-18 club.

Moreover, the Wildcats developed team unity during a long road trip to Tooele, Utah, and through cross-training activities, and completing a 6-plus mile obstacle course.

Happy Friday, Carson City. Many people in our area have Facebook accounts, but not everyone, so I am pleased to bring you the event list that is featured on my Facebook page, I love Carson City.

Every week, as I have for the last two years, I follow the pages of local businesses and organizations, search website calendars, and compile a list of anything and everything going on in this community. Some of it is family friendly, some is just for adults, but all of it is nearby.

It's almost that time of year again at Carson High School. That one week of school where everybody dresses like a fashion-less hippy, has wild date proposals and bonds the student body closer as a school. This of course would be the one and only Homecoming week.

This year's homecoming theme is "Around the World" and the date is set for October 14th-October 18th. It would appear that Homecoming is looking very promising thanks to the leadership of this year's Master of Ceremonies: Jared Hearn and Sarah Christl.

Welcome back to another week of Senator Square, all news about students, staff and events at Carson High School. If you have information you’d like the community to know about in relation to CHS, please contact me agolik@carson.k12.nv.us.

Speech and Debate

Not only did the Western Nevada College softball team make strides on the field to finish fourth in the 2014 Region 18 softball tournament in May, the Wildcats outscored their conference foes in a more important area: the classroom.

WNC led three Scenic West Athletic Conference softball teams, making the grade for the 2013-14 National Junior College Athletic Association’s All-Academic Teams announced on Tuesday.

Making Western Nevada College the best educational experience possible for students brings pleasure to Rob and Dorothy Ramsdell. Over the past 15 years, the Carson City couple has been instrumental in improving programs, facilities, equipment and students’ educational opportunities at WNC.

Their unwavering generosity and support of WNC recently touched the college’s Bachelor of Technology (BTech) Construction Management program when they made a lead gift of $100,000 for the an endowed faculty chair position.

Western Nevada College Wildcats softball faced the College of Southern Nevada Coyotes in the Region XVIII tournament on Friday. Both teams needed to win in order to stay in the contest for the championship, and their fight the entire game showed how important a battle it was. WNC batted first as the visiting team, and Katilyn Covione started in the circle for the Wildcats of Carson City.

The rivalry was intense today on the softball diamond today as Carson squared off against Douglas earlier in the afternoon at Carson. The importance of the home game for the Senators was that it was their Senior Night.

For the first time in program history, the Western Nevada College softball team is going to third day of the Region 18 Tournament. Fortunately, the Wildcats didn’t pack for a short stay in Twin Falls, Idaho.

The sixth-seeded Wildcats stunned Snow College 11-9 in an elimination game on Thursday afternoon after ousting Colorado Northwestern earlier in the day. Snow (25-29) had beaten WNC (14-45) n seven of eight meetings this season.

Western Nevada College produced the start that it coveted against North Idaho in the Region 18 softball tournament on Wednesday in Twin Falls, Idaho.

The Wildcats scored four first-inning runs, but the Cardinals rallied behind Hayden Fields’ five RBI for a 10-6 victory on the opening day of the double-elimination tournament. WNC of Carson City (12-45) will meet Colorado Northwestern Community College (8-46) in an elimination game at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

After being told last season that she may never play softball again, Cara McCarthy continues to defy the odds in her softball career.

The Western Nevada College infielder and Bishop Manogue High School graduate announced on Saturday that she’ll continue her education and softball career at Nyack College, an NCAA Division II school in Nyack, N.Y.

“I was in talks with two different schools, both in New York. I was trying to go back East because that is where I’m from,” McCarthy said.

Heather Septon won’t ever forget her sophomore appreciation day at Western Nevada College. Septon slugged two home runs and knocked in seven runs as the Wildcats lost a 16-12 slugfest to College of Southern Nevada in the team’s final home softball game Saturday at Edmonds Sports Complex in Carson City.

Western Nevada College Wildcats Softball plays host to the Coyotes of the College of Southern Nevada this weekend for the final series of the 2014 season. Games began Friday afternoon at Edmonds Sports Complex. Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

WNC fell 5-15, despite a fifth inning rally in the first game, and dropped the second game, 5-14.

It was another Tuesday afternoon showdown on the softball diamond where the Manogue Miners took on the Carson Senators.

Manogue spent no time getting to business with a first at bat double by Tallman, followed immediately by another double by Lawson to score Tallman. With a single by Tavner, and a wild pitch shortly after, Tallman also made her way to the plate. Then, after another wild pitch and series of defensive mishaps, Tallman also made her way to the plate. The bleeding finally stopped there with the top of the first inning over, Manogue 3-0.

For the second straight game, Western Nevada College scored four times in the first inning, but the early offense wasn’t enough.

Snow scored seven runs in the third inning to rally for a 9-6 Scenic West Athletic Conference softball victory on Saturday in Ephraim, Utah.

There has been no scarcity of hits for the Western Nevada College softball team in recent Scenic West Athletic Conference series with Colorado Northwestern and North Idaho College.

But on Friday, the Wildcats struggled at the plate against Snow College pitchers Taylor Allman and Belle Stoddard in Ephraim, Utah.

There was early action on the softball diamond as Carson hosted McQueen Tuesday. McQueen needed little to no time to take the advantage in the top of the first going up 4-0 after a couple wild pitches and a plethora of good at-bats by their Lancer offense.

Kansas Wesleyan’s Daria Leid has been selected as the AstroTurf-KCAC Pitcher of the Week for her efforts in helping the Coyotes to a 4-0 record last week.

Leid, a senior from Carson City, Nev., went 2-0 on the week, as Wesleyan beat Friends 3-2 behind her complete game performance and beat Bethel 10-0 in a run-rule shortened game on Saturday in Newton.

Against Friends, Leid held Friends to just three hits and two runs, while striking out six as KWU beat the Falcons 3-2. Friends batted just .130 as a team in the game, well below their season average of .329.

Nobody would have blamed Katilyn Covione if she had opted for the safety of the Wildcats’ dugout after taking a ball off the side of her face in the sixth inning on Saturday.

As Covione knelt on the ground and dealt with the pain of fouling a pitch off the side of her face, she focused on shaking off the injury and continuing her at-bat. A day earlier, she missed Western Nevada College’s two games against North Idaho after a pregame grounder cut her mouth and gave her an unrelenting headache.

After a record-setting 22-hit performance and 14-run output in their previous game, the Western Nevada College Wildcats had difficulty finding holes in the North Idaho Cardinals’ defense on Friday.

In their first home game at Edmonds Sports Complex in more than a month, the Wildcats were two-hit by a trio of Cardinals in the opening game, losing 5-0. North Idaho, one of the hottest Scenic West Athletic Conference softball teams, rallied to win game two, restricting the Wildcats to six hits in an 8-6 victory.

It was the type of half inning that Western Nevada College softball players won’t soon forget. Thirteen Wildcats came to the plate in the fourth inning, with nine of them hitting their way on base. By the time the damage was done, eight Wildcats had crossed the plate, turning a 3-1 deficit into a 9-3 lead.

The big rally inspired the Wildcats to swat a school-record 22 hits en route to a 14-6 Scenic West Athletic Conference victory and a doubleheader split with the Colorado Northwest Community College Spartans on Saturday in Rangely, Colo.

Katilyn Covione pitched a complete-game four-hitter and Makenzie Hospodka knocked in five runs as Western Nevada College softball team returned to the win column in the Scenic West Athletic Conference.

After dropping the opening game of a doubleheader to Colorado Northwestern Community College on Friday, the Carson City based Wildcats battered the Spartans, 8-1, in game two in Rangely, Colo., to end a 16-game SWAC losing streak.
“It wasn’t just a win. I thought it was one of our best games all year,” said WNC coach Leah Wentworth. “They played a really solid game all the way around.”

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.”

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.

A 29-year-old man was arrested Thursday on felony charges of possession of stolen property and grand larceny of an automobile, according to the Carson City Sheriff's Office.

Jonathan Baumgardner is being held on $25,000 bail. He admitted to stealing a vehicle, stripping it of its tires and rims and then dumping it in a parking lot, according to the arrest report filed by the investigating detective.

Carson Middle School's annual Chili and Bingo Night has become a cherished and favorite annual springtime Friday night Carson City family event.

With dozens of prizes up for grabs through bingo and raffle games, as well as a silent auction and the best homemade chili dished up in the state, Carson Middle School PTA organizers are hoping to make this year's March 28 event, the biggest yet.

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.

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.