3A baseball playoffs begin

Ten NIAA/U.S. Bank 3A state baseball and softball berths will be decided this weekend when the Division I and II tournaments are staged at three different sites.

The four-team double elimination tournaments begin this morning with games at 9 a.m. - Division II baseball and softball will be contested at Bishop Manogue High School in Reno, the Division I baseball tournament will be played in Fernley and Division I softball will be played at Spring Creek.

At Manogue, the Division II baseball first-round schedule puts No. 2 seed Dayton against No. 3 Whittell at 9 a.m. Defending division and state champ Manogue takes the field against No. 4 seed Yerington at 11:30. Regular season softball champion Yerington opens against No. 4 Incline at noon, preceded by a 10 a.m. meeting between No. 2 Manogue and No. 3 Dayton.

At Fernley, regular season Division I champion Fernley faces Battle Mountain at 9 a.m., followed by an 11:30 game between No. 2 Spring Creek and No. 3 Rite of Passage.

In the Division I softball tournament at Spring Creek, No. 1 seed Spring Creek will take on Tahoe-Truckee at 9 a.m. and No. 2 Fernley will face No. 3 Battle Mountain at 11:30.

The first-round losers in each tournament will come back to play an elimination game at 2 p.m., to be followed by games between the winners. The championship games will be played on Saturday.

The top three finishers from the Division I tournaments and the two finalists from Division II will be awarded berths to the 3A state tournaments, which will be held May 18-20 in Mesquite.