By NICK YAMASHITA
The Progress
The Logandale Sports Complex was host to an epic All-Star tournament last weekend, that brought together the best of Little League baseball players for miles around.
Moapa Valley Little League hosted the very first Southeastern Nevada All-Star Invitational on Friday and Saturday, June 11-12. Fielding All-Star teams for the tournament were Little League organizations from Moapa Valley, Virgin Valley, Caliente, and Alamo. The double-elimination tournament was set up to have the best of the best in the area compete against each other for full bragging rights on who had the best all-stars.
The first round took place on Friday night at 5:00 pm pitting Caliente vs. Virgin Valley and Alamo vs. Moapa Valley at the same time on the back-to-back ball fields.
Both Caliente and Alamo started off slow in their respective games and found themselves both losing by double digits. Virgin Valley beat Caliente with a score of 18-3. Moapa Valley won against Alamo, 24-5.
This set up the rivalry match for the second round, bringing Virgin Valley against Moapa Valley. Meanwhile Alamo and Caliente met in the other bracket.
With some strong pitching from Austin Reese and hitting from multiple players, the Moapa Valley team was able to secure a win against Virgin Valley with a score of 9-2.
At the same time, the Alamo and Caliente matchup was going on. That game was going slow and was pretty evenly matched. But late in the game, the bats started connecting for Alamo. It started with one of the Stewart boys hitting an inside-the-park home run. That led to a rally that lifted Alamo over Caliente by 1 run to claim victory. The final score was 12-11.
“We have been trying hard to get the boys to do basic skills and suddenly it just clicked with them,” said Alamo Coach Trevor Poulsen.
With Caliente losing two games, it put them in the consolation game as the 4th seed. Moapa Valley by beating Virgin Valley was awarded the 1st seed and the Championship Game.
The deciding factor for both games was left to the favored Virgin Valley against Alamo. However, the rally from the night before kept swinging away for Alamo. The Alamo team kept the game close and heavily contested. In the end, Alamo claimed a close victory again by 1 run, 11-10.
The Alamo players, coaches and fans were ecstatic as they secured a spot in the final championship game.
The consolation game pitted Virgin Valley against Caliente for a second time. The outcome was almost a repeat of their first round meeting. Virgin Valley, under the leadership of Coach Hughes and Coach Frei, were able to secure the 3rd place in the tournament with a 14-5 score.
The Championship Game pitted the first-round rivalry against each other again. But with an Alamo team currently on a hitting streak and playing exceptionally well, the outcome was far from decided.
Alamo played much better defense this go-around. There were some excellent plays made by Tsosie, Poulson, Staley, and the Stewart boys. Those defensive moments helped hold Moapa Valley to only a couple of runs in the first two innings.
Fiatoa pitched well for Alamo and started off hot with three up and three down in the 3rd inner. By that time, Alamo was still in the game, down by only a couple runs. But that was as close as they would get.
After the third inning, the Moapa Valley bats started connecting and they scored 7 unanswered runs to tally up the score at 10-2.
The best possible ending for the MV All-Stars happened at the end of the game. With two on base, Briggs Hickman came to bat and nailed the ball, sending it soaring over center field fence. It was a 3 run Home Run to end the game and win the Championship.
The awards ceremony resulted in each youth athlete getting trophies, as Alamo got second and MV first.
“We are so thankful for everyone coming out to support these young athletes,” stated Cody Hughes, the tournament organizer. “Congratulations to both Alamo and MV as well as all of the youth. Let’s hear it for them.”
After a friendly awards ceremony with good sportsmanship showing, the youth athletes shook hands and said good-bye to each other. Parents snapped photos and MV took their team Championship picture all together.
“I am proud of these kids and their accomplishments,” said MV Coach Dominic Drosos. “We have to thank everyone for the support and making this possible.”
On Saturday, the All Stars also had a tournament breakfast at 8:00 am. This was sponsored by Valley Pediatric Dental owned by Dr. Cody Hughes, who also coached the Moapa Valley team.
Immediately following the breakfast, a skills competition was held. Virgin Valley won the “Around the Horn” Competition based on a skills builder game that pits baserunners against the in-fielders. The Home Run Derby was won by Uriah Pereida of Virgin Valley. The last skills competition was the 60 ft. dash which was won by Briggs Hickman.
