MVHS, VVHS Compete In 3A Southern Regionals

By BOB SNELL

The Progress

The Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley baseball teams concluded their pandemic-shortened seasons by participating in the 3A South Regional tournament last week.

The Pirates went 1-2 in tournament play, blanking Eldorado of Las Vegas before dropping back-to-back games against Pahrump Valley and Virgin Valley. Moapa Valley concluded its season with an overall record of 7-6.

The Bulldogs, who finished their season 6-7 overall, lost to Pahrump Valley twice while picking up wins over Eldorado and Moapa Valley.

The Pirates opened tournament play at home on Tuesday, May 18 shutting out Eldorado 4-0.
But Moapa Valley ran into a buzzsaw on Wednesday as they were defeated 13-2 by Pahrump Valley. The loss knocked the Pirates into an elimination contest against rival Virgin Valley on Thursday night on the Pirate field.

Virgin Valley freshman left-hander Bryce Intagliata limited the Pirates to one hit while pitching into the sixth inning before maxing out his pitch count limit at 111. Intagliata struck out nine and walked seven.

The Pirates scored their lone run in the bottom of the seventh inning when Rylan Evans walked, advanced to second base on a ground out and scored on Chandler Evans’ single.

VVHS opened tournament play last Tuesday traveling to Pahrump where they were defeated by the Trojans 10-0. The loss dropped the Bulldogs into the dreaded loser’s bracket where they would have to win four games in two days to reach Saturday’s championship game.

After mustering just two hits against the Trojans, Virgin Valley bounced back from Tuesday’s loss to defeat Eldorado, 9-6, and Moapa Valley, 3-1, on Thursday in Overton.

Against Eldorado, the Bulldogs scored five runs in the fourth inning to snap a 3-3 tie and then held off the Sundevils to record the victory.

Senior Shawn Anderson collected three hits and drove in two runs while pitching into the fifth inning with five strikeouts to lead the Bulldogs. Freshman Drake Wakefield added two hits for VVHS.

After defeating Moapa Valley Thursday night, the Bulldogs got back on a bus Friday morning and traveled to Pahrump for a rematch with the Trojans.

Having to win twice to avoid having its season end, Virgin Valley scored three runs in the top of the first inning. Singles by senior Bridger Toone and Intagliata, a fielder’s choice grounder by Anderson and two Trojan errors staked the Bulldogs to an early 3-0 lead.

Pahrump Valley responded by scoring four runs in the second and two in the third to take control. They tacked on single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth to build up a 10-3 advantage.

The Bulldogs scored three runs in the seventh on an RBI single by Anderson and a two-run double by junior Joey Kazek.

Boulder City capped off a perfect 12-0 season by defeating Pahrump Valley, 8-4, in the regional championship game Saturday afternoon at Whalen Field in Boulder City.