By DAVE BELCHER
Moapa Valley Progress
3A Baseball – South Sunrise
Boulder City
The Eagles won the state championship last year and return nine from last year’s team. Two of them were starters last year.
Kodey Rahr hit .420 with 10 doubles and had 30 RBIs. Aaron Kehoe hit .406 and had 14 RBIs. Preston Van Diest hit .415 and had 11 RBI’s.
Jacob Hubel was 4-3 pitching last year with a 4.79 ERA. He will be the ace on this year’s staff.
Chaparral
The Cowboys will return seven from last year’s team. Four of them are returning as starters.
Last year the team finished with a 20-10 overall record and were the second seed with an 11-3 league record.
Antonio Vara hit .380 and had 21 runs scored. Erick Villarreal hit .340. Robert O’Connor scored 32 runs and hit 18 RBIs. Connor Jarvis scored 18 runs and hit 16 RBIs. Talon Greene had 23 RBIs. All of these players return this year.
Del Sol
The Dragon finished with a 16-14 record overall and a 8-6 record in league play to qualify as the fourth seed in the regional tournament from the Sunrise. They return three from last year’s team, all three starters.
The Dragons will be led by 2B/1B/C Jason Rolland a senior, P/CF Chandler Miller a junior, P/IF/OF Tyler Foreman a senior and C/OF Mike Hutchinson a senior.
Virgin Valley
The Bulldogs finished 6-19 last year with a 2-12 record in league play. They will return fourteen from last year’s team with eight players who were starters.
This team will have several juniors who saw a lot of playing time last year. These include OF/IF Layton Woods a senior, P/SS/OF Dillan Fuqua a junior, P/SS/C Cade Anderson a junior, OF Jaden Perkins a junior, IF/OF/P Easton Jensen junior, 1B Dallan Tanner a junior, and IF/OF/P Kayden Peterson sophomore.
SECTA
The Roadrunners finished last season with an overall record of 14-18 and 9-5 in the Sunrise. They were the third seed in the region tournament and were beaten. They return six from last year’s team; all six of them starters.
They have also made the post season in the past four years, which is how long they have been in the 3A. IF/P Trevor Kephart a Senior who hit .375 with 25 RBI’s, IF Chandler Gehring Senior who hit .325 with 22 runs scored and 20 RBI’s, OF/C Jayce Otis Senior who hit .383 with 25 runs scored, UTL/P Gabe Kermode Junior who hit .234 with 15 runs scored and 1B/P Sean Jones a junior hitting .268 with 15 runs scored.
The Roadrunners will have two seniors and two freshman pitching in their starting rotation this year.
3A Baseball – South Sunset
Cheyenne
The Desert Shield finished the season last year at 5-10 overall and 5-9 in league play.
Desert Pines
The Jaguars were 10-18 overall and 4-10 in league play, finishing in sixth place. They will return four from last year’s team, all four were starters. They have just one senior on the team this year and hope to build experience as the season moves along.
Mojave
The Rattlers were 16-14 overall last year and finished seventh in the Sunset with a 4-10 league record. They will return eight from last year’s team five of them starters.
Pahrump Valley
The Trojans look to improve their record of 13-16 overall and 6-8 in the Sunset from last year. The Trojans finished in fifth place last year. They return nine from last year’s team, five of them starters. The team should make a run for the playoffs this year.
Sunrise Mountain
The Miners will struggle again this year as they try to establish a program. They finished 3-19 overall and 1-13 in league play. They return six from last year with five starters.
Western
The Warriors were 1-19 overall last year and 0-14 in league play.
3A Baseball – North
Spring Creek finished with a 20-4 record followed by Fernley with a 18-6 record, Elko at 17-7, Fallon at 16-8, Dayton 12-11, South Tahoe 9-15, Lowry 8-16, Truckee 6-17 and Sparks with a 1-23 finish.
3A Softball – South Sunrise
The Sunrise last year had Boulder City win the league while Moapa Valley finished second and SECTA finished in a tie for fourth and final playoff spot over Virgin Valley who lost in the tiebreaker. Both finished at 8-6 in league play. Del Sol finished with just one win at 1-13. Below are the only teams to submit team information.
Boulder City
The Eagles finished last year as the state runner up. They have taken a huge loss to graduation loosing their pitcher Charleen Masterson who is now pitching for UNLV.
They had a league record of 14-0 and an overall record of 31-11. They return six from last year’s team, five of them were starters. Their experience will make them a contender again this year. Chaparral
The Cowboys made the state tournament two years ago. They fell apart last year and had to settle with an overall record of 7-21 and 4-10 in league play for a sixth place finish. They will have a long road to travel this year as they return just four from last year, three of them starters. These include IF Brandi Vara Senior, IF Sierra Shaw Senior, C Tabitha Mabry Senior.
3A Softball – South Sunset
The Sunset saw the top three teams from last year leave the 3A. First, Spring Valley won the 3A state title and with that win they were over the limit in the rubric points to send them into the 4A. The other two were Faith Lutheran and Sierra Vista.
Pahrump Valley is the other team who had a winning record and regional playoff berth with a 9-5 record.
The rest of the league struggled. Mojave finished with a 6-8 league record, Western 4-10 and Cheyenne 2-12. You can also add Desert Pines who had a 1-13 record in the Sunrise but moved to the Sunset for this year.
The only other team who moved was Sunrise Mountain who finished with a 9-5 league record and the third seed.
Cheyenne
The Desert Shields were the only Sunset team to submit information. Last year Cheyenne finished with a 3-12 overall record and a 2-12 league record. They finished in seventh place.
They will return this season with seven returning starters to give them some experience. These include P Madelynn Kennedy a Senior, SS Victoria Rosales a Junior, C Giovanna Bojorquez a Freshman, 3B Denise Manrilla a Junior and 1B Jonnette Paddy Senior.
3A Softball – North
Fallon was 22-2 last year, as well as Fernley. Lowry recorded an 18-7 record. South Tahoe was 14-11, Elko 12-14, Spring Creek 10-14, Sparks 5-19, Truckee 5-19 and Dayton 2-22.
