A Triple Crown for the Pahranagat Valley girls, their second consecutive year to win all three major girls high school sports: volleyball, basketball and softball.
It also marks a three-peat for the softball team and the first in coach Mike Sparrow’s 13-year career.
The girls took the title with an 11-4 win over Wells in the championship game Saturday at Desert Oasis High in Las Vegas.
Seniors Jamie Hansen and Jade Jewitt were able to celebrate a second three-sport sweep for the girls, having been on the championship volleyball and basketball teams the past two years.
It was the sixth appearance in the softball championship in the last nine years for the Lady Panthers.
On Saturday, Hansen and Jewett were a combined 4-for-7 with four runs to lead the youthful Panthers (19-6).
“It doesn’t get old,” said Hansen, one of just three seniors. “It feels pretty amazing.” Both Hansen and Jewett played their parts, providing an early boost in the championship.
They each singled and came around to score in the first inning as PVHS grabbed an early 3-0 lead.
Jewett finished 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Hansen was 2-for-3 with three runs, a walk and a stolen base.
Wells (31-2) got a run in the top of the second, but PVHS answered with two of their own to go up 5-1.
The Leopards pulled within 5-3 in the third on an RBI triple by Holly Seech and a sacrifice fly by Katlyn Delrio.
PVHS freshman pitcher Ashlyn Wadsworth, who struck out five in a six-hitter, walked two batters to start the top of the seventh but retired three of the next four batters to close out the game.
Another freshman, Madalyn Taylor, had a two-run inside-the-park home run in the fifth inning. It was Taylor‘s second inside-the-park homer of the tournament. Classmate Kaitlyn Davis finished 3-for-4 with a double and a triple
Sparrow said, “I knew I had a young crew coming in (this season) and we had a lot of work to do. But they believed in what we were saying, and just went to work. There’s no quit or give up in these kids.”
Wells’ Alexandrea Leyva was 2-for-3.
Brook Higbee finished 3-for-5 with a triple and three RBIs for the Panthers, who had 11 hits.
Alyson Egbert went 3-for-4, and Madison Harris had a double and two RBIs for Pahranagat, which also got a double from Hansen.
Leslie Aguilar had a double for Wells.
The championship wouldn’t have happened were it not for a miracle-like come-from-behind win over Eureka in the opening game on Thursday.
The Lady Panthers trailed Eureka 7-1 in the sixth inning and were down to their final out. But Sparrow said he didn’t panic.The team had won several games this season in the last innings.
Pahranagat Valley mounted a two out, four-run rally that inning, and Eureka committed a three-run scoring infield error in the bottom of next inning and PVHS took an 8-7 victory from the jaws of defeat at UNLV’s Eller Media Stadium.
“It doesn’t surprise me,” Sparrow said. “We’ve done this so many times this year, that we have been down late and they have come back and won a ball game. It’s almost like it’s what they expect.”
Down 7-5 in the bottom of the seventh, with two outs and two on, Madalyn Taylor hit a seemingly routine ground ball to Eureka second baseman Bridgette Bacon, who missed it, and the ball rolled to the fence in right center field, giving Taylor an inside-the-park three-run home run.
Eureka had taken advantage of Panther errors for three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings for the 7-1 lead.
Sarah Prince’s pinch-hit double started the Panthers’ comeback in the sixth inning.
Madison Harris followed with a two-run, inside-the-park home run to right-center to make it 7-3.
Then three errors by the Vandals with two outs allowed PVHS to pull within 7-5 after six.
Brook Higbee’s infield single started the bottom of the seventh, but back-to-back strikeouts had the Vandals one out away from victory before Taylor’s grounder ended the game.
Prior to the sixth inning, Pahranagat Valley had just four base runners.
“You’ve got to put the ball in play, and when you put the ball in play, things can happen,” Sparrow said. “We were not very disciplined at the plate early on. They settled down.”
With the thrilling win still fresh in their hearts, on Friday in the winner’s bracket semifinal, Pahranagat just dominated an unbeaten Wells team 14-4 at Mountain View High to move into the championship.
“We had an opportunity to go out there and take charge,” Sparrow said. “And right from the get-go, that’s what we did. These girls do a really great job of doing what we ask them to do.”
Wells cut the lead to 7-4 in the fifth inning, but got no closer. Pahranagat Valley put up seven more runs in the sixth to seal the win.
The Leopards beat Eureka 8-3 in the elimination game Friday afternoon to advance to the finals against the Panthers.
