Washoe Valley Little League defeats Carson in district final

RENO - Carson American's Cinderella run through the District 1 tournament came to a screeching halt at the hands of perennial powerhouse Washoe Valley.

Washoe Valley scored six runs in the first inning and Chris Trissel threw a three-hit shutout in the 9-0 win in the championship game Monday night at Swope Elementary School.

Carson finished 6-1 in the tournament and gave Washoe Valley one of its best games of the tournament. Washoe Valley now advances to the state tournament July 22 in Las Vegas.

"Heck yeah I'm happy overall," Carson manager Jim Blueberg Jr. said. "I didn't expect to get this far. I knew what we were up against.

"The Washoe pitcher pitched a great game. We couldn't get going. You're not going to see anybody better than that. We knew we were facing the best pitcher in the district. We knew he hadn't given up any runs."

Trissel fanned nine and walked just one batter. He retired 10 of the first 11 batters of the game, including six by strikeout.

This one, unfortunately, was over in the first inning. The Carson coaching staff elected to start Bryan Sommers over staff ace Austin Law.

"We kicked that around all day, the four of us," Blueberg Jr. said. "We heard they had trouble with off-speed pitches against South Tahoe. We knew they could hit the fastball. They are a fastball-hitting team. We decided to try Bryan and have a quick hook. The first four guys rocked it, so we had a quick hook."

Trissel singled to right-centerfield and moved to third on a double to right that Mark McCraw misjudged. Singles by Austin Lujano and Tony Guidara made it 2-0. Enter Law. Exit Sommers.

Jeremy Rosenthal singled home Lujano for a 4-0 lead and Kyle Englin followed with a two-run homer to straightaway center.

Law finally retired the side, and went on to pitch three scoreless innings before Washoe Valley scored three in the fifth.

McCraw, who finished the tournament with five homers, singled to right in the first inning, but was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double.

"We were trying to get something going," Blueberg Jr. said. "We've been running the bases well."

Carson's best threat came in the fifth when it loaded the bases on a single by Conner Van Dyck and two errors. Trissel fanned Conner Beattie and got Brock Pradere to ground out to second base for a force out.

Carson got a runner to second in the sixth on Sommers' double but was unable to break up Trissel's shutout.

Carson players took the loss in good spirits. They even tried to douse Blueberg with Gatorade after the contest. He dodged the liquid and one of the players got soaked instead. It kind of summed up the game.

Blueberg can't be too disheartened. This all-star squad has a bright future ahead.

"We have seven kids on this team now coming back," he said. "More than half of these kids are 11 year-olds. I expect to be back full force next year. We'll be in the middle of it next year."

n Darrell Moody can be reached at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling 881-1281