Friday, April 17, 1998 | 10:18 a.m.
The 1998 Sunrise Division softball race was supposed to be a two-way battle between perennial area powers Silverado and Green Valley.
Apparently, somebody forgot to tell that to the coaches and players at Eldorado and Basic.
On Thursday, Las Vegas' two most surprising teams met with nothing less than a share of first place in the division at stake. And after 10 innings of the type of drama worthy of such a game, the host Sundevils emerged with a 2-1 victory.
"This was a big win for us," said Eldorado coach Tom Freese, whose club finished the first half of the conference season with a 6-1 league record (15-4 overall) to remain tied with Silverado. "We're right where we wanted to be."
After the clubs combined to strand 18 runners, the Sundevils finally pushed the winning run across the plate when Wolves' third baseman Bianca Gonzales misplayed a ground ball off the bat of Nikki Mostaff.
Eldorado leadoff hitter Janelle Gervais, who had reached base after getting hit by a pitch, came around to score, sending the hosts and their fans to their feet.
"In a game like this, one error can kill you," Basic coach Aly Cerrone said. "But the main thing we needed to do was take advantage of our scoring opportunities early on. It never should have come to that."
The game's starting pitchers did a good job keeping the damage to a minimum, working their way out of jams in nearly every inning to send the game into the three extra innings.
Eldorado's Amber Clutts (7-2) scattered seven hits in her complete game victory while Basic's Jen Redding surrendered just six hits in her 10 innings of work.
Basic (12-9, 5-2) will open the division's second half today against Chaparral one game behind the leaders, tied with Green Valley. The Sundevils will play their third home game this week today against the Skyhawks in a battle for sole possession of first place.
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