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STHS nine wins home finale

by dan thomas

Turnabout is fair play, and South Tahoe High’s baseball team played fairly well to overwhelm Elko in its final home game, but dropped the next two to finish 4-19.

“What’s been happening to us, we did to Elko on Friday,” said South Tahoe skipper Doug Russell, whose club beat the Indians 15-5 in six innings to close its home season. “We hit the ball, we had pitching and defense to go with it. We jumped up 2-0 and just never looked back.”

Tim Sprinkles scattered four hits over six in his final game, striking out six and walking three to earn the win.



After South Tahoe took the early lead, Mike Tillson hit what his coach called a “textbook” squeeze to drive in two runs, and South Tahoe closed out the game with five runs in the final inning. Sprinkles was also 4 for 5 at the plate, and John Capitani hit two home runs and batted in three runs. Ryan Cullen finished 2 for 4 with four RBIs, Mike Hennessy was 2 for 4 and Justin Osborne 2 for 4.

“It was a flash of what might have been, which is too bad to see it that late in the season,” Russell said. “But to see it that late in the season is better than not seeing it at all.”



South Tahoe couldn’t carry the momentum into the next day’s doubleheader at Reed, where the motivated Raiders continued their pitch for the playoffs with a 13-3 win in six innings and a 10-0 win in five. Hennessy had a three-run homer in the first inning for South Tahoe, but the Vikings could muster no offense after that against Raiders ace Jason Malarkey.

Russell was ejected for a dispute with the umpire, and was not present as South Tahoe lost the second half of the doubleheader. After the Vikings stranded two runners in the first inning, the offense shut down, and Reed finished the sweep.

South Tahoe finished the season tied with Elko for last place in Northern Nevada 4A baseball.

Whittell couldn’t overcome Bishop Manogue on its annual baseball trip to Reno, but the Warriors have come a long way.

The first-place and defending Nevada 3A state-champion Miners did sweep Saturday’s doubleheader, 11-1 and 4-0, but Whittell made a much better showing than it has historically. The Warriors lost 28-1 and 32-0 last year.

“We did really well this time,” said Warriors shortstop Brandon Lee. “We did way better. The defense was on, but their pitching was overpowering.”

Even without Lee, one of Whittell’s top two pitchers on the mound, the Warriors made it interesting. Manogue struggled to hit first-game starter Bryce Schussel. Thomas Hunter and Matt Wiggins combined for Whittell in the second game.

The Warriors are 7-9 overall, 3-5 in Northern Nevada 2A play, but still own the tiebreakers over Yerington and Incline. Whittell heads to Mineral County for a Saturday doubleheader against Hawthorne.

Vikings softball drops three at Reed

While something South Tahoe’s softball team did awoke its bats, having fielders in new positions hurt the defense and the Vikings dropped three at Reed.

“We were playing a lot of girls in different positions, so there were a lot of errors and misplayed balls,” said skipper pro tempore Glenn Roderick, filling in for manager Rich Barna.

The Vikings lost both of Friday’s game at the non-league tournament, 10-0 to Merced, Calif., and 6-3 to Elko before finishing the tournament with a 19-2 loss to host Reed. But with nine hits against Elko and 10 against Reed, the Vikings matched, then exceeded, their best offensive outputs of the year.

Emily Sullivan, who started out as a designated hitter before moving on to see regular duty, finished the tournament 4 for 7 at the plate, while Tammy Cowen was 3 for 6, Jessica Cerasoli 3 for 7 and Kendra Terry 4 for 10.

Missy Johnson was 1 for 2 before breaking a finger, but finished the tournament 5 for 8 at the plate, and pitched a complete game against Elko, catching the ball barehanded when the catcher threw it back.

The Vikings resume league play on May 2, playing host to Fallon for a May 2 game at the Field of Dreams.

Runners battle gusts, dust in Dayton

Whittell High’s track team earned its finishes and found an insight into how the hosts of Saturday’s Dayton Invitational earned their nicknames.

“It was kind of fun, but it was so windy,” said Warriors coach Brian Rippet. “They earned their nickname, the Dust Devils, that’s for sure.”

With the wind blowing triple jumpers off course and blowing at least one Warriors 400-meter runner into the other lane, the conditions presented a challenge. Freshman Kim McGlothlin answered the challenge with a win in the 800 meters in 2 minutes, 42 seconds, and a second-place finish in the 1,600-meter run (6:12). Luke Forvilly added two second-place finishes, one in his fastest 110 hurdles of the year (16.38) and one in his fastest 100 dash of the year (11.19).

Ben Johnson anchored Whittell’s fourth-place 4×800 relay team, and came in fourth in the 1,600 as well. Jonathan Nunnally was fifth in the 400 after realizing the starter didn’t call him back for a restart, and seventh in the 100. Freshman Joe Ilk set two personal records, in the shot put and the discus.

Whittell took just a handful of athletes to Dayton because of spring break, and will return to action with a full squad May 5-6 at The Meadows near Las Vegas.


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