By Dave Belcher

Moapa Valley Progress

Northern 3A Baseball

The Northern 3A Baseball playoff series are best of three series. The winners will move on to the state tournament in Reno next week to compete in the double elimination tournament.

The defending State Champion Fallon is the #1 seed from the Lahontan Region with a record of 10-4 in league play and 14-15 overall. This league was won by Yerington of the 2A with a record of 12-3 and 23-5-1 overall. Fallon was 2nd.

Yerington is the favorite in the 2A to win the whole thing this year. Yerington and Fallon split the two games this year each winning by 1 run 5-4 and 7-6.

Fallon is 6-4 in their last ten games splitting their last four. Last year they won their final 8 games and 9 of 10 in their last ten for a 23-9 record and the State Championship. They will host Lowry Friday at 3:30 pm.

Lowry lost to Fallon 11-1 earlier in the season and is the #2 seed from the Ruby Mountain Region. Lowry was beaten by Boulder City in last season’s State tournament 10-0 in five innings and was eliminated.

Elko is the #1 seed from the Ruby Mountains with a record of 13-2 in league play and 19-8 overall. Elko was on top of the region with Lowry finishing in 2nd and Spring Creek finishing 3rd with a 9-6 league record and a overall record of 19-9. That tells us that Lowry had at least 9 league wins to beat out Spring Creek.

Elko has won 9 of their last 11 ending the regular season with a three game sweep of Spring Creek. Lowry won 2 of 3 from Elko this year. Elko has the second best record in the 3A and lost to Truckee who has the best record 4-3 in their only meeting this season.

As a team the tribe hits for a .311 AVE. Their leading hitter is Headley who hits at .492 and has 25 RBI’s. Ridgway is the best pitcher with a 7-3 record and an ERA of 2.29.

The Indians will host Sparks who finished 8-4 in league play and 14-8 overall.

Sparks finished #2 in the Mount Rose Region behind Truckee. Sparks is 5-5 over their final ten games including three consecutive losses in their last three games of the season against Truckee. Rose is their best hitter with a .524 batting Average and 23 RBI’s. He hit 4 home runs on the season and played behind the plate at catcher. He scored 33 times this season to lead the team. As a team they hit .333. Their best pitcher is Longman who is 6-1 with a 2.39 ERA.

Truckee is the top ranked team with a record of 23-5. They are the champions of the Mount Rose Region and will be hosting Fernley the #2 seed from the Lahontan Region with a record of 13-11.

Aldridge is Truckee’s leading hitter with a .400 AVE, 4 home runs and 32 RBI’s. As a team they have a .364 AVE with 6 home runs and 282 runs scored. Pitching features three solid players with Buranzo the ace at 6-1 with a .51 ERA.

Fernley and Truckee did play in the regular season with Truckee winning the game 7-1.

Southern 3A Baseball

Boulder City is the top team in the south but has had three close games in league play against Moapa with all three being one run games losing one of them. Howell leads all southern Nevada with a .76 ERA in pitching. He is 4-1 and has 63 strike outs on the season. Hernandez leads the Eagles in hitting with an AVE. of .417 with a home run and 16 RBI’s. The Eagles are 15-9 and 7-1 in league play.

Northern 3A Softball

Defending champion, Fallon is one of the favorites to repeat as State Champions and is 24-5 and 11-1 in league play. Their only loss in league play was to Fernley a couple weeks ago by the score of 10-9. Their best player is their pitcher Pinder who is 20-2 with 10 shutouts on the season. She had 144 strikeouts in 1654 pitches this season. Their team ERA is 1.71 as a staff. Rothery is their best hitter with a .504 AVE and 40 RBI’s. As a team they are hitting .349.

They will be hosting Elko who is the #2 seed from the Ruby Mountain Region. Elko is 17-11 and 10-5 in league play. Machado is a .360 hitter and lead the team with 25 RBI’s and a home run. As a team they hit .298. Lujano is their top pitcher with an 11-2 record and an ERA of 2.84. She had 81 strikeouts this year. Their team had a 3.04 Era.

Lowry is the top seed from the Ruby Mountain Region with a record of 18-11 and 12-3 in league play. They have won 9 of their last 10 games and are on a roll. Their best player is Ethcheverry who is a .398 hitter and has 31 RBI’s. Their best Pitcher is Mecham who is 10-3 with an ERA of 1.57. The team ERA is 3.93 and they hit at a .308 clip. They will be hosting South Tahoe who is the #2 seed from the Mount Rose Region. The Vikings are 13-15 and 9-4 in league play. Their team hits the ball well at .420 and scores a lot of runs with a total of 225 runs. However they allowed 236 on the season as their pitching has an ERA of 6.91. Best hitter is Gardner at .431 and 31 RBI’s. Best pitcher is Neiger who is 8-5 with an ERA of 5.62 with 53 strike outs.

Truckee is the top seed in the Mount Rose Region with an 11-1 league record and a 14-10-1 overall record. The Wolverines play in the worst of all the regions as their record demonstrates. Bolton is their best hitter with a .410 AVE and 20 RBI’s for the season. Pitching, Weber appears to be their best with a record of 4-2. Her ERA is 2.13. They have used two pitchers for the season and have a team ERA of 2.35.

The Wolverines will be hosting Fernley this week. Fernley and Truckee have played three times this season. The first game was a tie and Fernley winning the last two games of the three they have played this year.

Fernley is 19-11-2 on the season and 8-4 in league play. Fernley’s best hitter is Mattice with an AVE of .435 and 35 RBI’s. Best pitcher is Daggett who has an ERA of 1.68.

They may have the best pitching staff in the 3A with an ERA of 2.04.

Fernley may be the team to pull off an upset in the state tournament.

Southern 3A Softball

Boulder City has the best overall player in the 3A and possibly the state.

Koopman is hitting .551 with 4 home runs. She leads all Southern Nevada with 57 RBI’s, an ERA of 1.00, and is 20-3. She is 8th with 120 strikeouts. They are 27-3 with a team batting average of .470. McKever is their best hitter for average at .614 with three others hitting over .500.

Koopman .551, Rants .547 and Holling at .500. These girls will have to give the title away in order to not win it. Definitely they are the favorites.