I-A SOFTBALL: Michaela Hood guides Spring Valley to victory

Michaela Hood tossed a five-hitter with 10 strikeouts and hit the go-ahead, two-run double in the fourth inning Thursday to rally Spring Valley’s softball team to a 9-2 victory over Churchill County in the opening round of the Division I-A state tournament at Shadow Mountain in Sparks.

Hood walked four and finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs for the Grizzlies (25-3), who will meet Boulder City (30-9) in the winners’ bracket final at 5 p.m. Friday at Shadow Mountain.

Spring Valley fell behind 2-0 after two innings, but answered with one run in the third and six runs in the fourth to take a 7-2 lead.

Stephanie Huff was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, and Mariah Ward went 1-for-2 with a double, three runs scored and an RBI for Spring Valley, which added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth.

Paige Thorn was 2-for-3 with a double for Churchill County.

Boulder City 9, Fernley 8 — The Eagles took advantage of two errors to score three runs in the top of the eighth inning then held on top nip the Vaqueros in the other first-round game.

Jeanne Carmell scored on an error with one out in the eighth to break a 6-6 tie.

Charlene Masterson then singled home Marleena Mills to give the Eagles an 8-6 lead, and Lily Osman scored on a two-out error to put Boulder City ahead 9-6.

The Vaqueros answered with two runs in bottom of the eighth, but left the potential tying run on third with two outs.

Lexi Nelson had an RBI single for Fernley, and teammate Alexandria Conder bunted home a run to cut the lead to 9-8. But Masterson got a groundout to end the game.

Masterson was 4-for-5 with three RBIs and tossed a seven-hitter with seven strikeouts for Boulder City. Jerra Hinson was 3-for-5 for the Eagles, who had 17 hits.

Courtney Dunn was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs for Fernley.