RENO -- Washoe came into the 2003 District I Little League Tournament as the team to beat. Carson American coach Jim Blueberg quickly found out why.
The Washoe All-Stars scored in every inning and allowed only two hits as they advanced in the winners bracket of the 9-10 year old division with a 13-1 win on Wednesday evening at South Valleys Regional Sports Complex. Washoe, which beat Reno American West 17-5 on Monday, will play either Sparks Centennial or Reno American East on Saturday night at 7.
Carson American, which beat Valley Providence 11-6 and Sparks National 6-3 earlier this week, will play an elimination game on Friday at 5:30 p.m. Its opponent could be local rival Carson National, which stayed alive in the tournament with a 10-1 win over Valley Providence in the losers bracket on Wednesday.
"We got outclassed today, they played better than us today," said Blueberg, whose son, Colby, was one of only two players to hit in the game. "They're definitely the team to beat in this tournament but we know we can play better. And I think we will. We are a very good team and we're by far the youngest 9-10 year old team here. There are six 9-year-olds on this team and four of the 10-year-olds just turned 10."
Washoe went up 2-0 in the top of the first after back-to-back RBI singles by Chris Trissel and Tony Guidara. Carson American, though, had a chance to get at least one of those runs back in the bottom half of the inning. Lead off hitter Brock Pradere reached on an error and Colby Blueberg laid down a superb bunt to put runners on first and third with no outs. Connor Van Dyck then drilled a line drive down the first base line but it was snagged by the first baseman, who then stepped on first to get Blueberg out for the double play. Pradere tried to steal home with Austin Law at the plate, but was tagged out to end the inning.
"We had that first inning," coach Blueberg said. "We were down 2-0 and we had runners on first and third with no outs and never scored. That kind of ended it for us right there. I think it would've been a different game had we scored. And that was pretty much our offense for the night."
Carson's only other hit came in the fifth inning after Zach Berg doubled. The fifth was also when Adam Whitt scored Carson's only run following Connor Beattie's ground out to short. It just couldn't get anything going off Washoe starter Sean-Luke Brija. After a shaky first inning, Brija pitched three perfect innings by not allowing anybody to get on base. Brija pitched four innings in the win and only faced 12 batters.
"We did a lot of things that kind of hurt ourselves and we didn't hit the ball all that well," coach Blueberg said. "Not to take anything away from Washoe, they're an outstanding team. But I know we can play better."
Trissel and Guidara both went 2-for-4 with an RBI for Washoe, which recorded 12 hits in the game. It scored two runs in the second off an error and a passed ball and scored two more runs in the third off a wild pitch and another passed ball.
CARSON NATIONAL 10, VALLEY PROVIDENCE 1
Both Chance Quilling and Ricky McDonald each had a double and triple in the easy win over Valley Providence at South Valleys Sports Regional Complex. Quilling went 2-for-4 and McDonald 3-for-4. Every player got on base for Carson National, which will play Reno Continental tonight at 8 in another elimination game.
Valley Providence, which has been eliminated, trailed 9-0 before scoring its only run in the fifth inning. Clay Holton pitched a complete game for Carson National, allowing only two hits and one walk in the win.