Skyhawks belt Las Vegas

Adam Candee

Thursday, May 13, 2004 | 9:29 a.m.

On the mound, experience made the difference. At the plate, youth announced its arrival.

Together, they brought a green Silverado team back to ground familiar to the program, but pretty new and exciting to this group.

Senior Dan Morris grinded through a complete game and sophomore Chad Robinson belted an opposite-field grand slam to help the Skyhawks (SE-4) to a 9-6 upset of Northeast Division champion Las Vegas in Wednesday's opening round of the double-elimination Sunrise Region playoffs.

The Skyhawks face Basic (SE-2) in the region semifinals this afternoon. The Wolves outlasted Chaparral (NE-3), 15-10, on their home field to advance.

In fact, the Southeast Division would have swept the first round of Sunrise action if not for a most surprising defeat: Defending state champion Green Valley (SE-3) fell into the elimination bracket with a 3-2 loss to Eldorado (NE-2). The Sundevils will take on Southeast champion Foothill, an 11-0 winner over Rancho (NE-4), today.

For Silverado, a state qualifier last season, advancing to the semifinals did not look easy.

"We battled all the way through," Silverado coach Brian Whitaker said. "They had a couple of real good opportunities and we pitched out of some trouble. We got a couple of clutch hits ourselves."

The first of those came from Robinson in the third inning. Catcher Kyle Bostick led off with a walk and moved to third on Morris's double. Las Vegas intentionally walked Casey Coon to load the bases and Robinson followed by launching a 1-0 pitch from Trace Grant out to right field for a 5-1 lead.

Morris quickly gave two runs back in the bottom of the inning on a homer by Las Vegas' Josh Chasse and then loaded the bases with no outs. Morris, the Skyhawks' No. 1 starter, did not panic.

"Experience is great because you're in the situations, you know what you're doing," Morris said. "Obviously, the first time you get in there, you're going to have a little bit of anxiety. You're going to be a little scared, but after once, it's all good."

He struck out Eugene Hamilton and turned a double play by sprinting back off the mound to catch Shane Gammon's flare and tossing to second base to beat the runner back.

Morris again got into trouble in the fifth inning. With its deficit down to 6-5, Las Vegas got runners to second and third with one out, thanks in part to a Silverado error. But Bostick made the huge play this time, firing behind Hamilton at third in the next at-bat to pick him off and deflate the Wildcats' momentum.

Whitaker gave his catcher a chance to improvise in that tight spot.

"When we back pick, it's our bailout play," Whitaker said. "We felt at that point (Bostick) has got the green light to put that on if he feels it might be there. You can't be afraid to do it. That is an only-when-it's-needed kind of move and it worked out."

A grounder to second on the next pitch ended the threat and the Skyhawks added three insurance runs in the seventh.

Morris allowed five runs -- four earned -- on 10 hits, striking out four, walking two and hitting two with pitches. Without his best stuff, Morris began spotting his off-speed pitches later in the game to frustrate the Wildcats.

"My breaking ball and my slider were working pretty well today," Morris said. "My fastball didn't have what it usually did, so I had to rely on those pitches a little more."

Whitaker did not hesitate to let Morris work out of his own jams.

"Dan's our guy," Whitaker said. "He's been in some pressure before and we've got to live and die with a guy like that. He did a real good job today."

In the Sunset Region, the Northwest swept through the opening round. Fourth-seeded Cheyenne also pulled an upset, stunning Southwest champion Bonanza, 3-2. Palo Verde (NW-3) stopped Sierra Vista (SW-2), 9-5.

The Panthers will take on Centennial (NW-1), which sweated out an 8-7 victory over Bishop Gorman (SW-4) in eight innings. Cimarron-Memorial (NW-2) downed Durango (SW-3), 7-3, to move on to face the Desert Shields.

Region playoffs continue today and run through Saturday.