Young Silverado squad wins 9th title in a row

Adam Candee

Monday, May 17, 2004 | 8:42 a.m.

Stinging from another beating and looking like only a shell of their perennially powerful selves, the Silverado softball team sat in the dugout in silence after losing at home to Centennial in mid-March.

Just two players with any real experience returned from a team gutted by graduation and the schedule showed no softies for a while. Really, what else could new coach Steve Hodges do but preach patience to those predicting the end of Silverado's decade of strength?

"Everybody said, 'Silverado's done,' " Hodges said. "Well, we didn't think we were done. We just knew it was going to take a while."

The young Skyhawks rewarded their coach's faith Saturday by beating Las Vegas, 4-0, to claim their ninth consecutive Sunrise Region title and one of just four berths in this week's 4A State Tournament.

Silverado joins Sunset Region winner Centennial in traveling to Carson City for the state playoffs, along with Northern entries Douglas and McQueen. The two-day, double-elimination tournament begins Friday at Carson High School.

After squeezing out one-run wins in their first three playoff games, the Skyhawks made life a bit easier in the title game by pushing across their runs early in the game against a tired Las Vegas team playing its second game of the afternoon. Kelly Griego, one of those two experienced returners, tossed a shutout to continue a nine-game string of defensive dominance in which Silverado has allowed three runs.

Hodges began letting Griego, a junior, and freshman catcher Amanda Edmonson call their own game late in the year, fueling that stingy streak. It is the development of his No. 1 pitcher that Hodges credits for starting Silverado's upswing.

"As Kelly Griego got better, we got better," Hodges said.

The Skyhawks take just four seniors up north this week. Yet even with little experience, Hodges trusted the talent and mentality of his young group in the trying first few weeks of the season.

"The quality of the people we have is the bottom line," Hodges said. "It was just a matter of time until they learned what it was going to take. The effort was always there. They were just struggling early."

Hodges said his team also felt the pressure of keeping alive Silverado's reputation as one of Nevada's best programs.

"That streak is not worth its weight; I'll tell you that right now," Hodges said. "It's a heavy, heavy weight on the backs of people involved in the program. You don't want to be the ones to blow it."

Silverado (SR-1) faces Douglas (N-1) to open play, while Centennial (SS-1) plays McQueen (N-2). Hodges feels that the road to a title goes through the state's top pitcher.

"There's a kid named Shannon Crisp standing in front of the trophy and ain't nobody beating her," Hodges said.

Palo Verde came close in the Sunset title game, extending Crisp and the Bulldogs to nine innings before losing, 1-0, on Amanda McDonnell's sacrifice fly that plated Kylie Kearns. Crisp and Palo Verde's Lindsey Callaway dueled, just as the Bulldogs' ace did for 17 innings with the Panthers' Renee Dipuccio last year in the region playoffs.

Centennial has not played many close games this season and Bulldogs coach Mike Livreri likes the fact that his team had that experience in regionals.

"It's great to know that they can win a game like this," Livreri said. "They somehow got it done. That's all I can say."