Friday, May 13, 2005 | 10:01 a.m.
Green Valley seems to be back on track after Thursday's 8-3 win against Las Vegas High.
But Basic, having just derailed Silverado in two consecutive games, is looking to do the same to the Gators in tonight's Sunrise Region championship at Basic in Henderson.
Green Valley was steamrollering toward the playoffs through the first half of league play, sweeping their Southeast Division opponents while outscoring them 50-12.
But in the second half of league play, Green Valley dropped three of its six games and wound up with a second seed in the playoffs.
"The kids have really fought," Gators coach Nick Garritano said. "They've gone through a lot in the last part of the year. Our offense has been nonexistent through the whole second half of league and it's nice to see the kids fight through it."
Basic, which beat top-seed Silverado 5-2 after downing the Skyhawks 3-2 on Thursday, relied on a strong five innings by Kyle Bondurant before Casey Cochran came in for the save. The Wolves will play at 7 p.m. tonight for their first shot at the Sunrise championship since 2002.
And, despite being a lower seed, Basic will host the playoff game because it has one of the few fields with lights.
"I think there are some advantages, but it's high school baseball," Wolves coach Mike Kazek said. "We played three games over at Eldorado, but that's not our home field. Green Valley has played their last three games at our field. It's a pretty neutral field tomorrow."
Garritano disagreed.
"We definitely think they have home field advantage," he said. "I'd pay money to have that game at our place. We just gotta hope we come out with our A-game and it should be a heck of a game tomorrow."
Once Around Town
SOUTHWEST: Sierra Vista has lost one game since the start of league play, a 1-0 defeat at Bonanza that seems more and more like a blip on the radar.
"We're playing pretty well right now," Mountain Lions coach Nate Selby said. "We're getting really good pitching again. It never went very far away but it's been very good the last couple of games."
Thursday, Drew Leary threw a two-hitter against Durango as Sierra Vista moved on to today's championship game with a 5-0 defeat of the Trailblazers. Wednesday, Justin Garcia and Justin Mettelka combined for a four-hit, one-run game against Durango.
It's depth of pitching that's Selby's greatest concern heading into today's 7 p.m. Sunset championship game against Centennial at Durango High School.
"Everybody's a little thin on pitching," he said. "You kinda ask your guys to buck it up and give you some innings."
NORTHWEST: Cimarron-Memorial's disappointing season ended Thursday, with last year's state runner-up falling to Durango 3-1 in the one-loss bracket of the Sunset Region tournament.
The Spartans started the season ranked 49th in the country by Baseball America, but quickly fizzled and never gained traction through the season.
"With all the hype, we expected a lot," Spartans coach Mike Hubel said. "It seems like the teams that win are the teams that are a team, teams that play together and trust one another. I don't think we did a good job of that. It seemed like everybody tried to do too much all year long, other than relying on a couple people to help them out in certain situations."
The Spartans finished the year 20-10.
Scouting Report
UP NORTH: Spanish Springs and Galena both moved on in the winners brackets of the Northern Region tournament. Wooster and Reno both survived in the one-loss bracket.
SMALL SCHOOLS: The 1A South tournament opened Thursday at Mountain View Christian School in Las Vegas. Beatty and Tonopah both advanced to play today, with the winner of that Nye County matchup facing Calvary Chapel for the 1A South championship.
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