LAS VEGAS - Now that the Dayton High baseball team has gotten over its opening game jitters, the Dust Devils can now get down to the serious business of chasing a state title.
It wasn't a thing of beauty, but Dayton won in the first round of the NIAA 3A State Championships on Thursday at Faith Lutheran, beating Pahrump Valley 11-9. The Dust Devils advanced to a winner's bracket game today in which they play at 3:30 p.m. With a win, Dayton would advance to the championship round.
Dayton basically overcame one bad inning behind pitcher Cory Yoder, who went five innings for the win.
"It wasn't pretty," Dayton coach Craig Miller said. "A lot of nervous kids out there. One error opened up the floodgates. We just have to avoid the big inning."
"That's a tough team," Miller also said about Pahrump. "They were the hottest team coming in."
Dayton was clinging to a 7-6 lead in the sixth inning when Anthony Onstott walked and Rory Torvik doubled. Brandon Aguilera followed with a two-run single that made it 9-6.
In the seventh, Tom O'Brien doubled and Joe Delaski hit an RBI single. Yoder followed with an RBI single to make it 11-7.
Ryan Shepherd pitched the last two innings for the save. He allowed an unearned run in the sixth and a two-run single in the seventh, but caught the final batter he faced looking to end the game.
O'Brien had three hits, including a double. He also had a single in which three runs scored with him scoring on the final run on the play after there were two errors.
"We had one inning where we made a couple of errors," O'Brien said. "Other than that we played a good game and we can hit the ball better than we showed.
"It's just one game, though we've got to play tomorrow and the next day and win both of them."
Yoder, who Miller said pitched well, also had three hits, Torvik and Delaski each had two hits and Tim Doyle, Sheperd and Onstott all added a hit.
Dayton still has its other ace in Delaski. If everything goes well it's likely that Yoder would come back to pitch on Saturday.
FERNLEY SOFTBALL 10, PAHRUMP VALLEY 2
Heather Mathews pitched a complete game four-hitter and Sev Johnson belted a three-run home run to break a 2-2 tie as Fernley set up another showdown with Lowry in the winner's bracket. The two teams will play at 4 p.m. today at Faith Lutheran. The winner will advance to Saturday's championship round.
"We played real well," Fernley coach Diane Chapin said. "She (Mathews) threw hard and hit most of her spots and kept them off balance."
The Vaqueros took a 2-0 lead in the first on Nikole Whitney's RBI single. Whitney then scored on a wild pitch.
Mathews retired the first six batters she faced. But then Mathews was touched for an RBI single and an RBI double in the third that tied the game 2-2. It was then all Fernley after that.
In the fourth, Samantha Rambeau doubled and Kayla McCollum walked. Johnson followed by belting a three-run shot well over the left centerfield fence that made it 5-2.
"Actually I was just looking for a basehit to try to score my runner at third base," Johnson said.
Up 6-2 in the fifth, Johnson singled and Frances Estrada reached on a bunt single. A run scored on an error and Whitney's infield single scored another run to make it 8-2. In the seventh, Whitney's two-run double made it 10-2.
Whitney had a huge game going 4-for-4. Johnson had two hits and four RBI and Estrada added two hits.
"Heather did really well," said Johnson, who caught Mathews. "She hit all her spots that she needed to."