Silverado wins Legion title

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Aug. 6, 1999 | 9:31 a.m.

With a berth to regionals already locked up, Silverado came into the week-long American Legion Baseball Nevada State Tournament playing for pride alone.

As it turned out, pride proved to be an extremely powerful motivator for the Skyhawks, who routed Bishop Gorman, 13-1, Thursday night at UNLV's Wilson Stadium to add this year's state tournament trophy to the regular season title they captured last month.

"We told them, 'We're here to win the state championship, not just to walk through it,' " Silverado coach Art Besser said. "They knew they were out here to win this one."

The Skyhawks (50-7) will enter next week's Region 8 Tournament as Nevada's "state" champion, with regular season runner-up Durango (63-20) also making the eight-team field as the "host" squad. The Trailblazers were knocked out of the tournament on Monday, but got a reprieve when Silverado downed Gorman.

Early in the tournament, it looked like Silverado might be on the sidelines as well, after an opening-round loss to Western put the Skyhawks on the brink of elimination.

Things got even scarier for the Henderson-area school in round two, as Silverado needed three ninth-inning runs to slip past Reno, 15-14, and stay in the event.

But from there, the Skyhawks' ultra-potent lineup left nothing to chance, scoring 15, 17, 15 and 13 runs in the team's final four wins to run the club's run total to 83 in six tournament contests.

"The offense has been this way for most of the season," Besser said. "We have kids one through nine who can hit the ball."

One of those players -- shortstop Ryan Ruiz -- took home the event's Most Valuable Player award after capping off a superb tournament with another stellar performance in Thursday's finale.

Already known as one of the state's top fielding shortstops, the senior-to-be blasted his fourth home run of the tournament -- an eighth-inning grand slam -- and singled home a run in the fifth to run his tourney RBI total to 16. He also scored 19 runs in his club's six games.

"He started off a little slow in high school ball (last spring), but now, 90 games later, he's just stroking the ball," Besser said.

For Ruiz, through, the MVP trophy paled in comparison to the team title -- Silverado's first baseball championship since the school opened in 1994.

"We've been waiting so long for this opportunity, and we finally got it done," Ruiz said.

"That first loss really gave us a wake-up call."

In addition to Ruiz's heroics, the Skyhawks got a solo homer from catcher Tommy Rojas in the seventh inning, a two-run double from Bobby Morvay in the eighth and two hits and a pair of runs from leadoff hitter Vincent Valiente, who returned to the lineup after a one-game absence.

As it turned out, Silverado would need almost none of that offense on the tournament's final night, thanks to graduated senior pitcher Jason Vita.

The right-hander put an ironic end to an event dominated by hitting, tossing a complete-game seven-hitter against a resilient, experienced Gaels' lineup.

"I think I was more pumped up and more relaxed," said Vita (5-1), who struggled in a relief appearance earlier in the week. "I get stronger and stronger if I'm starting."

Gorman (31-14), the two-time defending Legion state champion, managed virtually no offense against Vita, scoring its only run on an RBI double by Ben Fox.

"The thing I like about Jason is his mental attitude," Besser said. "He's going to come at you no matter what."

Silverado and Durango will both open regional play next Thursday at Wilson Stadium, with the Skyhawks slated to take on the California champion and Durango set to face Utah's representative.