SPARKS, Nev. — The South Tahoe baseball team finished the regular season with a 16^th consecutive win last weekend, giving the Vikings the top seed heading into this weekend’s Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Class 3A Northern Region tournament.

South Tahoe wrapped up the regular season on Saturday with a three-game sweep of Sparks.

The Vikings shutout the Railroaders in the first two games of the series before closing out the regular season with a 9-1 on Saturday afternoon.

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South Tahoe opened the series on Friday at Sparks with a 16-0 win after five innings of play do the 10-run mercy rule. Seniors Nico Wagner and Joel Gomez each hit a home run as part of a combined eighth RBIs during the contest. From the mound, Wagner tossed a perfect game with nine strikeouts through five innings.

The Vikings then limited Sparks to three hits in an 11-0 win to start Saturday’s doubleheader. Senior Christopher Haven led South Tahoe with a home run and three RBIs. Senior Vinnie Abbandondolo hit a triple and drove in a trio of batters. Senior Ian Ross hit two doubles. From the mound, senior Evan Orr pitched five innings, allowed three hits, and struck out seven batters.

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South Tahoe and Sparks returned to the field Saturday afternoon, and the Vikings closed out their regular season with a 9-1 victory. Senior Garrett Friederici led South Tahoe with a trio of hits, including a double, and two RBIs. Orr hit a home run and drove in two batters. Ross pitched for the Vikings and struck out 10 batters through four innings of work.

South Tahoe (21-4) will enter this weekend’s six-team regional tournament as the top seed, and will await the winner of Thursday’s first-round matchup between Churchill County and North Valleys.

The regional playoffs will be held through Saturday at Wooster High School in Sparks. The winner and runner-up will head to south to Virgin Valley for the four-team state championship tournament, set to begin May 18.

Lady Vikings stumble down stretch

After a stretch that saw South Tahoe’s softball team win seven of nine games, the Vikings stumbled to finish out the regular season, closing their 2023 campaign with eight consecutive losses.

South Tahoe finished out the season at Sparks, but was unable to come away with a win during the three-game series, which featured a trio of tightly contested matchups.

The Vikings held the lead late against the Railroaders to open the three-game series, but a seven-run sixth inning by Sparks resulted in an 18-15 defeat for South Tahoe. Seniors Kiva Davis and Amber Burdick each hit a home run and a double during the game. The two players combined for five hits and seven RBIs. Junior Joylin Mendez and sophomore Campbell Mathews both swatted two doubles, and junior Addie Menke had a trio of hits.

South Tahoe returned to the field at Sparks on Saturday for doubleheader to conclude the season.

The Vikings again held the lead late in the contest but the Railroaders rallied back for a 9-8 win in extra innings. Burdick led the team with a home run and a double. Mendez finished the game with three hits, including a double. Mathews also had three hits and drove in two runs.

In the Vikings’ season finale, South Tahoe held a 2-1 edge going into the bottom of the seventh inning, but Sparks managed to push across a pair of runs to claim a 3-2 victory. Senor Breanna Wible led the team with three hits, including two doubles. Mendez also had three hits. Davis and sophomore Angelina Rojas both hit a double.

South Tahoe finishes the season with a 7-14 record. Mendez led the club with a 0.615 batting average. Davis hit five home runs as part of team-high 32 hits on the season and 22 RBIs.

Justin Scacco is a reporter for the Sierra Sun, a sister publication of the Tribune.