Sports Roundup (May 19, 2021)

VVHS Softball
Virgin Valley High School’s softball team has earned the top seed in this week’s South 3A Regional tournament.
The Lady Bulldogs, 9-1 overall, nailed down the No. 1 seed by defeating Clark of Las Vegas, 10-0, last Wednesday afternoon at Bulldog Diamond in Mesquite in the regular-season finale.

Virgin Valley sophomore pitcher Riley Price closed the regular season in style by throwing a no-hitter against the Lady Chargers. The game was called after five innings because of the NIAA mercy rule.

Price was dominant inside the circle, striking out 11 Clark batters while walking three. The right-hander has also thrown two one-hitters and a two-hitter this season.
“Riley threw a great game,” VVHS head coach Travis Griffiths said. “She’s had an outstanding season for us. Obviously, she will be a key for us in the tournament.”

With the game scoreless after three innings, the Lady Bulldogs broke things open in the bottom of the fourth inning. VVHS sent 14 batters to the plate in scoring nine runs.

Gabby Potter singled and Kaysha Heath tripled in the right-centerfield gap to put the Lady Bulldogs on the board. Marli Wakefield singled, Destiny Moeai reached on an error and Savannah Cannon singled to give Virgin Valley a 3-0 lead.

Natalie Plancarte and Ana Tausinga singled and came home on Price’s triple. Potter scored Price with a single and Heath and Evia Toone followed with singles to cap the uprising.

The Lady Bulldogs ended the game in the fifth when Reggi Frei singled and scored on Plancarte’s triple. It was Plancarte’s third hit in the contest.

The double-elimination tournament will be held every day this week with teams divided into two separate pods. The two pod winners, which will be decided on Friday, will meet in a winner-take-all championship game on Saturday.

“I’m not worried about our pitching in the tournament,” Griffiths said. “I think we’ll be in good shape. Riley has a lot of stamina. She should be good to go. Reggi can also come in and pitch if needed.”

The Lady Bulldogs will open tournament play at home on Tuesday at 4 p.m. against the winner of Monday’s Desert Pines vs Sunrise Mountain contest. If VVHS wins on Tuesday, it will play again at home on Wednesday at 4 p.m. against either Boulder City or Clark.

MVHS Softball
On May 10, the MVHS softball team beat Clark 11-0 at home in five innings. The Pirates scored seven runs in the fourth inning then coasted for the win.

Lyon, Evans, Staheli, Longman, Ellie Cornwall and Edyn Bennett all scored runs in the fourth inning. Evans tripled, Staheli and Cornwall each hit doubles while Longman and Bennett each singled in the inning.

Wood and Bennett pitched with Wood throwing for three innings allowing no hits and striking out seven. Bennett allowed the hit.
Staheli was 2-3 at the plate. Bennett had one hit with 2 RBI’s.

On Thursday, May 13, the Pirates beat SLAM 18-10 in the final game of the regular season.
SLAM took an early 9-3 lead by the end of the second inning.
The Pirates scored 6 runs in the bottom of the third, 3 in the 4th, 2 in the 5th and 4 more in the sixth.

Bennett was 2-5 with 4 RBI’s. Staheli was 2-3 and 3 RBI’s. Evans had 3 RBI’s while Stankosky scored 2 RBI’s.

Fairchild allowed 7 runs in almost two innings of pitching. Bennett allowed 3 runs in her 2 innings. Wood shut the Bulls down with 4 scoreless innings to get the win.

The Pirates finished the regular season 7-3 as they enter the regional playoffs this Tuesday at home.

VVHS Baseball
The Virgin Valley High School baseball team closed out regular season play by splitting a pair of games last week.
The Bulldogs defeated Western of Las Vegas 15-0 at Bulldog Field in Mesquite on Tuesday before dropping a 9-4 decision to SLAM Nevada in Henderson on Thursday. As a result, the Bulldogs, who are 4-5 overall, will enter this week’s South 3A Regional tournament as the seventh seed.

VVHS will open the double-elimination tournament Tuesday at 4 p.m. in Pahrump against No. 2 seed Pahrump Valley. If the Bulldogs win they will play again on Wednesday against either Moapa Valley or Eldorado of Las Vegas. If Virgin Valley loses on Tuesday they will play again on Thursday.

In the victory over Western, the Bulldogs jumped in front early scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Stratton Waite, Tyler Jensen and Kurt Felix drew walks with all three eventually coming around to score on a pair of Western errors.

The big inning for Virgin Valley came in the second when the Bulldogs scored eight runs on just three base hits. Bryce Intagliata had a two-run single with Shawn Anderson and Felix each singling home a run. VVHS also took advantage of five walks and a hit batter.

The Bulldogs closed out the game by scoring four runs in the fourth inning. Cameron Perkins tripled to right field and scored on Drake Wakefield’s single. Joey Kazek singled and Ashten Roman followed with an RBI double. After Jensen and Braden Harris walked to load the bases, Bridger Toone singled scoring Roman which prompted the game to end via the NIAA mercy rule.

In Thursday game against SLAM Nevada, the Bulldogs mustered just three hits against the Bulls. Jensen had a double and two RBI with Toone also driving in two runs and getting a hit. Waite had the other base hit for VVHS.

MVHS Track
Moapa Valley Track and Rield travelled to Sunrise Mountain for a four-team meet on Saturday, May 15. It was more like an all Moapa Valley meet, though, since the other three schools who were supposed to be there ended up fielding only a handful of athletes. Host team Sunrise Mountain didn’t report any results from the meet.
But the Moapa Valley athletes had several event winners at the meet.

On the girls’ side, Kyla Bradshaw won the shotput and discus throwing events. Hanna Watson won both the long jupm and triple jump events. McKinley Bledsoe won the 1600, Tali Fairchild the 400 meters, and Emma Humes the 800 meters.

In the boys’ competition, Eli Cox won both the shotput and discus. Garrett Clove won the long and triple jumps. Cyrus Katich won the 1600 meters. Preston Humes won the 800 meters and Marcus Shambaugh won the 3200 meters.

Moapa Valley High School will be hosting the regional meet on Friday, May 21, starting at 1pm. There will be no state meet this year.