Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal Carson's Cody Scarlett slides safely into third against Carson Valley's Christian Neilander in Wednesday's game at Governor's Field.
No matter what the score, Carson Valley manager Dave Cochran knew there was no way he could relax Wednesday afternoon during his team's District 1 Little League 11-12 year-old Tournament contest against Carson National.
In this case, the game literally came down to the last swing of the bat, as Clayton Limacher belted a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Carson Valley a dramatic 8-5 victory against Carson National at Governor's Field.
Limacher's liner over the left field fence broke a 5-5 tie and ended a struggle that had gone back and forth through six innings of regulation and beyond.
That will explain at least part of Cochran's nervousness, particularly after Carson Valley batted through the order twice and left the bases loaded twice in the first two innings and only had a 2-0 lead.
"Even if we had scored a bunch of runs, I would still have been nervous," he said. "Like I tell the kids, look to the left of you, look to the right of you and everyone is an all-star. There are no cheap or easy outs here."
Limacher came on to pitch in relief with two outs and one runner aboard and ended a Carson National rally in the sixth inning. Then the 12-year-old right-hander retired three of the four batters he faced in the seventh.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Ethan Schultz walked and then Walter Gemmill reached base on an infield single up the middle to set up Limacher's game-winning hit in the bottom half of the inning.
Carson National stayed in contention with the aid of two clutch home runs - Jace Carlson's two-run blast on a two-strike pitch provided a 3-2 lead in the fourth and Chance Quilling's two-run homer high off the flagpole in center field made it 5-5 in the fifth.
"You always have that Carson Valley/Douglas and Carson rivalry," Cochran said. "These kids know each other; they recognize each other from Pop Warner football and all-star baseball. They know you can't throw too many good pitches against Chance Quilling."
Five errors on defense and the inability to deliver hits in the clutch were critical to Carson National's hopes, according to manager Chris Petersen.
"I think we came in here a little flat after that tough game last night," Petersen said, referring to Carson's 4-3 loss against Washoe on Tuesday.
There were missed opportunities on both sides. Carson Valley stranded six base runners in the first two innings and 12 runners overall. Carson National left eight runners stranded.
Carson Valley finished with seven hits against the combined pitching of Quilling, who worked six innings, and Max Keller.
Gemmell hit 4-for-5 with one RBI and Luke Isherwood contributed a double to lead Carson Valley offensively. Quilling hit 2-for-3 with three RBIs while Daniel Okamura Cody Scarlett contributed doubles for Carson National.
Carson Valley improved its tournament record to 2-0 and Carson National dropped to 0-2. However, those numbers don't mean a thing right now, according to Petersen.
"We're fine. I'm not worried about this team. We have a great group of kids," he said. "In two games, we've had phenomenal pitching performances from Drew Moreland last night and Chance Quilling today. The thing is, we just have to get over the hump."