Willinsky fires shutout for C-M in opening game

Adam Candee

Friday, May 21, 2004 | 1:39 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- If Thursday's opening round was any indication, do not expect the powerful hitting that marked prep baseball's season to continue in the 4A State Tournament.

Pitchers owned the first two games of the double elimination tournament that continued today and will finish Saturday at Carson High School. Cimarron-Memorial won the opening game against Reed, 1-0, behind a four-hit shutout by Mark Willinsky. Reno took the second game as lefty Jeff Schoenbachler frustrated Silverado in a 4-2 Huskies win.

The Spartans and Huskies were to meet in the winners' bracket today after an elimination game between the Skyhawks and Raiders. The Cimarron-Reno loser will face the Silverado-Reed winner to finish the evening at 6 p.m.

The 4A State Tournament in softball was scheduled to open today with Centennial facing McQueen and Silverado taking on Douglas. Both games were set for Carson High, with all teams playing at least one more game today.

Cimarron coach Mike Hubel won with his ace on the mound Thursday and he said that getting past Reno and staying in the winners' bracket was the key to a state title.

"I think (today's) the biggest game we're going to play all year," Hubel said.

After scoring eight runs in the Sunset Region title game against Centennial, Cimarron survived on a first-inning RBI single by Josh Felker. Reed's Jacob McGee shut down the Spartans after that, but Willinsky made the run stand up.

Willinsky retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced and worked out of trouble in both of the final two innings to preserve the win for the Sunset champions. Hubel never considered pulling Willinsky, a hard-throwing junior righty, choosing to stick with his best pitcher as Reed (N-2) put runners in scoring position with less than two outs in the sixth and seventh innings.

"He's been in a lot of trouble this year and he's worked out of it pretty well," Hubel said.

With Cimarron protecting a 1-0 lead in the seventh inning, Willinsky allowed a leadoff double to Zackary May. Spartans catcher Josh Felker, who drove in the game's only run with a first-inning RBI single, twice threw behind May and picked him off on the second try.

"When he was off there, I kind of figured it was over," Willinsky said.

Willinsky struck out Britt Hastings on the next pitch and got Ryan Lammle to fly to center to end the game. Willinsky, who also escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth, struck out seven and walked two.

"He just came out and hit his spots and threw well," Hubel said. "I can't ask for him to do much more than that. He threw exceptionally well."

Schoenbachler proved equally tough against Silverado (SR-1). He struck out the first four batters of the game and owned a 4-0 lead after three innings.

After blowing away the Skyhawks with his fastball early, Schoenbachler mixed in his offspeed pitches later in the game to keep Silverado -- which scored 13 runs against Foothill to win the Sunrise Region -- off balance. He allowed two runs on seven hits and a pair of walks, going all seven innings to beat the Skyhawks for the second straight year in the state playoffs.

"We saw him last year and he's even better," Silverado coach Brian Whitaker said. "The kid's a tough pitcher. You've got to tip your cap to him."

Silverado pitcher Dan Morris struggled early against the Huskies (N-1), giving up two runs within the first five batters. He eventually settled in and allowed just a single over the final three frames, but Silverado's bats did not wake up until Casey Coon hit an RBI double to the right field corner and Chad Robinson followed with an infield single off Schoenbachler's glove in the sixth.

"It took a while to get going offensively," Whitaker said.

Kevin Rath grounded out to second base to end the threat and the Skyhawks stranded a leadoff runner in the seventh.