Silverado keeps up tradition

James Yodice

Friday, May 16, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

An exciting -- but not combustible -- fusion of youth and experience, this is not the same Silverado softball program which won the last two Southern Nevada zone tournaments.

As a matter of fact, in some ways the future looks even brighter for the Skyhawks than it did in 1995, if that's possible.

On a bright Thursday afternoon at Sunset Park, Silverado once again stamped Clark County as its softball domain with a 5-4 victory over Bonanza in the Class 4A zone finals.

Silverado, Bonanza, Green Valley and Eldorado are seeded first through fourth from the South for next weekend's state tournament at Carson City.

"What is special is that we have kids at Silverado who expect to continue that short tradition we do have," said Skyhawks coach Chuck Pope.

Mostly young kids, to be specific. The Skyhawks (31-6) feature just four seniors -- and a small group of eighth-graders are waiting in the wings to join this program in 1998.

How young is Silverado? The Skyhawks' starting pitcher Thursday was a sophomore, and Tiffany Finateri went the distance for the victory. She was one of the top five pitchers in Las Vegas this year.

The most valuable player in the zone tournament also was a sophomore, outfielder Julia Yurek, whose bat awakened at the most opportune times during the last three days.

"Oh God, I call it a tree trunk," said Silverado pitcher/outfielder Meka Anderson, one of the four seniors and the most valuable pitcher at the zone event. "I can't even swing it, but as long as she swings it, I don't care."

Silverado had other underclassmen shine, like junior first baseman Sara Buntjer and freshman catcher Mindy Ogan.

Also, there was sophomore shortstop April Arata, sophomore catcher Laura Connors and freshman Kristen Toner, who did some important pinch-running duty for Silverado Wednesday and Thursday.

"We have a lot of interchangable parts," said Pope, whose team has won 99 games the past three season. "That's the really nice part."

The Skyhawks nearly were upset by a gritty Bonanza team which lost in the first round Tuesday but scrapped through the losers bracket, knocking off Chaparal, Basic, Eldorado and Green Valley to reach the finals.

Bonanza (21-9) beat Green Valley 4-0 in Thursday's first game, which determined who would play Silverado for the championship. The Gators (23-8) managed just four hits against Bengals pitcher Jessica Smith, while Melissa Simerlink smacked a two-run single.

Simerlink was given the ball against Silverado but tired late in the game. The Skyhawks took advantage.

In a 2-2 game, she uncorked two wild pitches in the sixth inning, scoring Toner with the go-ahead run. Yurek followed with an RBI triple down the third base line, scoring Heather Young from third base for a 4-2 lead.

"I like it better when I'm under pressure," Yurek said. "I'm just glad I got it done."

On the next pitch, Connors lashed a single to right-center, scoring Yurek for a 5-2 lead.

The Bengals scored two unearned runs after two were out in the bottom of the seventh, but stranded the potential tying run at second base. Young made a great catch on a line drive off the bat of Lindsey Johnston for the third out.

"This team is so young, and they didn't know what they're expected to do," said Anderson. "And as long as they do that, they'll keep performing like they do."

The all-tournament team consisted off Yurek, Anderson, Arata and unheralded designated hitter Christi Moores from Silverado; Rachael Milligan, Simerlink and Kelly Glass from Bonanza; Jen Lee and Nicole Truax from Green Valley; Amanda Berg and Janelle Gervais from Eldorado; and Jen Redding from Basic.

Bits and pieces

* SWIMMING, TRACK AND FIELD: The zone diving finals are scheduled at 6 tonight at UNLV, with the zone swimming finals Saturday at 10 a.m. at UNLV. ... Durango is hosting the track and field zone finals at 4 Saturday afternoon. The top four in each event advance to next weekend's state meet in Reno.

* PHYSICALS: Cheyenne High School's annual physicals are Tuesday in the main gym from 4:30-5:30 p.m. It costs $20, and is good for the 1997-98 school year.