BY DARRELL MOODY
Appeal Sports Writer
RENO " Sparks Centennial was in a charitable mood and Carson American's Zach Simms may have had the best game of his young life. Those are the two main reasons whey Carson American is still playing baseball.
Sparks Centennial made five errors " four of which led to all seven of Carson's runs " and Simms pitched four shutout innings of relief and drove in three runs in Carson's 7-4 come-from-behind victory in the semifinals of the District 1 9 and 10-year-old all-star tournament Saturday at South Valley Sports Complex.
The win moves Carson American into the finals today at 3:30 against Washoe, the host of the tournament. Washoe beat Carson 18-3 in pool play earlier this week.
"This is the third game that we have come from behind," Carson coach Troy Moyle said. "For some reason, sometimes we sit back and watch. As soon as we scored a run, we got pumped up. They made errors and we capitalized on them. We jumped on that."
Sparks nailed Carson starter Chea Zevnick for four first-inning runs, three of which were earned.
After one out, Washoe's Brandon Parisotto and Austin Beard hit back-to-back singles. Losing pitcher Brandon Koszuth singled to left field, scoring Parisotto. Beard also scored when left fielder P.J. White misplayed the ball.
Koszuth reached third on the play and scored on Matthew Denn's infield out. Jake Van Tress singled home Logan Davis, who had walked and moved to third on an infield out and wild pitch. Zenvick allowed another hit, but no further damage.
That would be the extent of Sparks' offense, as it managed just two hits the remainder of the contest.
Carson, which left runners in scoring position the first two innings, broke loose in the third with the help of some bad defense by Sparks.
After one out, Koszuth hit Connor Pradere with a pitch. Pradere moved to second on Shane Andrews' single, to third on a wild pitch and scored when Sparks second baseman Jon Pinto mishandled White's groundball. Andrews reached third on the error and scored when Pinto mishandled Jon Collins' line drive.
Simms followed with a two-run double to left, tying the game at 4. Simms moved to third when Sparks tried to throw Collins out at the plate. Jesse Lopez followed with a sacrifice fly to center to give Carson a 5-4 lead.
Carson added to its lead in the fifth, tacking on two more unearned runs.
White was safe on yet another Sparks error, but was forced out at second by Collins. Simms, who went 2-for-3 and drove in three runs, hit another run-scoring double to make it 6-4. After Lopez was retired, Bryce Moyle followed with a groundball to short which was misplayed, allowing Simms to score to make it 7-4.
Sparks threatened in the fifth against Simms, but came up empty when Bryce Moyle snagged a soft line drive off the bat of Cameron Beard for the third out. Simms left the game after the fifth because he'd thrown his allotted 75 pitches.
"[Zach] is always right on that level," Coach Moyle said. "As soon as he overcomes his nervousness, he throws bullets. He wouldn't have come out had he not reached his limit."
Collins came on in the sixth, and showed he was just as tough as Simms. Collins retired Sparks in order " two by strikeout " to end the game.
Coach Moyle said his team is looking forward to today's championship game. The winner advances to the State Tournament, which will be hosted at a District 3 site. He doesn't believe there will be any issues based on the earlier loss to Washoe, which blanked Carson Valley 24-0 to move into the finals.
"That's what we wanted," Coach Moyle said. "We went into [the first meeting with Washoe] having already won two games. It was a throwaway game for us. That game didn't matter. We'll give them a run for their money."
Moyle did stress to his team that it couldn't afford to fall behind by four like it did today. He's hoping his team can come out and score early and often.
NOTES: Sparks outhit Carson 7-4, five of those hits coming in the first inning when it scored four runs ... Moyle didn't indicate whom his starting pitcher would be today ... Besides Simms' two doubles, Lopez and Andrews added one hit apiece ... Carson played a solid defensive game, making just two errors, one in the first and one in the fourth.
- Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or (775) 881-1281