South has mystique in its favor as state baseball tourney begins

Spencer Patterson

Monday, May 17, 1999 | 10:10 a.m.

It's time to find out how good the Reno High baseball team really is.

After going 23-1 in conference play this spring, Northern Nevada's top club earned a berth in this week's 4A State Tournament with four straight wins in the Northern Zone Tournament.

And with six-time defending champion Green Valley not in the field of four, expect the Huskies (31-4) to arrive in Las Vegas with a world of confidence.

"It's wide open, and it looks like they were the cream of the crop in their league," Cimarron-Memorial coach Calvin Valvo said. "So they've got to feel like they've got a shot."

Valvo's team avoided a first-round matchup with Reno by rallying for a 2-1 victory over Durango in the Southern Zone title game on Saturday. The Spartans (22-8) will instead open with North No. 2 seed Wooster (20-13), which fell 4-3 to Reno in the Northern championship on Saturday.

The Huskies' first round opponent will be Durango (32-4), which battled through the zone tournament's loser's bracket for five consecutive victories to earn the school's second state berth in four years.

"In my experience, even when (Northern teams) had home territory (in the state tournament), they didn't step up and play," said Durango coach Mike Gomez, who also made two trips to state at Eldorado. "And you never know whether they'll be intimidated by the mystique the South has had."

Although Cimarron and Durango have just one previous state appearance between them, the Las Vegas representatives will certainly have recent history on their side to go with the advantage of playing the double-elimination event at UNLV's Wilson Stadium.

Since 1985, the North has produced just one large school state champion -- Carson in 1992. That was the last time Green Valley didn't win the title.

* SKYHAWKS RIDING HIGH: Fresh off its fifth straight Southern Zone softball title, Silverado heads to Carson as a top seed for this week's 4A State Tournament.

The Skyhawks (29-10) finished off a 4-0 tournament performance with a 2-0 win over Durango in Friday's title game. Those two clubs, along with Bonanza and Cimarron, will represent the South when the state tournament begins Thursday at Carson High School.

Wooster (30-5) claimed the Northern Zone title on Saturday with a 4-0 win over top-seeded Reed. Galena and Carson also made the state field of eight, giving the north four legitimate contenders for this year's crown.

A Northern club has won the large school title every year since 1993, although Bonanza nearly changed that last year, reaching the championship game before falling to Reed.

* TRACK TITLES CHANGE HANDS: The Southern Zone track & field trophies were wrested away from defending champion Cheyenne on Saturday, as Durango raced its way to the boys title and Silverado grabbed the girls championship.

The Trailblazers captured four individual events and two relays, with Ransom Minyard leading the way with first-place finishes in the 110 meter high hurdles and the 300 meter intermediate hurdles.

Silverado took the girls title despite winning just one event -- the discus, which Laura Saye captured with a meet-record toss of 140 feet. Top-three finishes in seven other events helped the Skyhawks overcome second-place Cheyenne by a wide margin.

The two-day state meet begins Friday at Durango High School.

* GATORS' STREAK HALTED: For the first time in seven years, a school other than Green Valley can call itself Southern Zone boys swimming champs.

Silverado took home its first-ever title and snapped the Gators' six-year streak on Saturday. Kurt Cady's individual wins in the 100 breast and the 200 individual medley lifted the Skyhawks to the championship.

All was not lost for Green Valley, though, as the Henderson school ran its string of girls zone titles to eight. The Gators have won the meet every year since the school opened in the fall of 1991.

Green Valley's divers keyed the win over second-place Durango, as Aubrie Cropper, Jamie Chanin and Cheryl Runyan finished 1-2-3 in the event.

The two-day 4A state meet begins Friday at UNLV.

* GOLFERS HONORED: Green Valley's Joey Matyas and Durango's Chad Fosburg have been named the Sunrise and Sunset Division Players of the Year, respectively, by area coaches.

Joining Matyas and Fosburg on the all-conference team were: Durango's Randy Creighton, Silverado's Brad Callihan, Western's Eric Kijowski, Bishop Gorman's Tim Reilly, Bonanza's Rand Cox and Green Valley's Drew Scott.

Durango's Jim Allen was named Coach of the Year after leading the Trailblazers to an undefeated conference season and this year's Southern Zone title.