By Joey Crandall
Nevada Appeal News Service
RENO " Senior starting pitchers Tyler May and Tyler Hoelzen have garnered a lot of the attention this season for the Douglas baseball team.
After all, with a combined 15-2 record on the mound, it'd be hard not to notice them.
On the back of twin 10-strikeout, two-walk gems from May and Hoelzen to open the regional tournament. junior No. 3 starter Michael Whalin, though, came up with a pretty big game of his own Thursday afternoon, holding McQueen to three hits while striking out six and walking none as Douglas picked up a 6-1 victory at Wooster High.
The win pushed Douglas into Saturday's regional title game against the Reno Huskies at 1 p.m. at Reno High.
"I've kind of been working in the shadow of those two guys all season, which is how I like it," Whalin said. "I just like kind of coming out of nowhere like that. For some reason, today I just came out a lot more focused than usual. I just felt great, had a couple of days of rest under me and it went pretty well."
The performance was certainly impressive to Douglas coach John Glover.
"Unbelievable," Glover said. "That's the best I've seen him pitch all year. He was under 80 pitches in a seven-inning game. Great game, I don't think he game up three balls to a hitter. He threw strikes and other than a couple of plays, the defense played really well behind him.
May went 3-for-3 at the plate with a triple and two runs scored to lead the Tigers at the plate. Tanner Thomas was 2-for-2 with a home run and three RBIs and Tim Rudnick and Troy Torres each had an RBI. Kameron Van Winkle added a double.
The title game matchup will represent the fifth between the Huskies and the Tigers this season and eighth in the last two years. Each team has claimed a pair of wins against the other this season.
"It's one of those deals, you just go play the game and whatever happens, happens," Glover said. "At this point in the season, everyone knows about everyone else, so there aren't too many surprises left."
Douglas has plenty of options on the mound heading into the title game with four innings remaining for May, Hoelzen and Whalin. The Tigers haven't brought top relievers Tim Rudnick and Kameron Van Winkle out yet in the tournament.
SOFTBALL: DHS 10, McQUEEN 6
RENO " Trailing 6-0 against McQueen heading into the bottom of fifth inning Thursday afternoon, the Douglas softball team was looking to get something, anything, going.
The Tigers came up with a nine-run inning to score a 10-6 comeback win over the Lancers in the first-round of the Northern 4A Regional Softball playoffs at Manogue, advancing to Friday's game against Spanish Springs at noon.
"We just came out really nervous and spotted them a pretty big lead," Douglas coach Andy Mitchell said. "We made some adjustments though and started hitting the ball. We got some through the middle, got the ball in play and scored nine runs in a row. It was just hit after hit after hit.
"We just tried to play our game. I'm really proud of the girls. They just battled back, kept their heads up and they did a fantastic job. It was a great win."
Mackenzie Cauley led the bottom of the fifth off with a singled and Brenna White added a one-out single. Emily Weaver singled to score Cauley.
Maddy Gilbert singled, Morgan Blomstrom doubled to score White and Weaver and Morgan Blomstrom singled to score Gilbert. Stephanie Harper singled to score Morgan. Mia Townsell singled, bringing Cauley back up to the plate. Cauley singled to bring Harper around, Rebecca Trute singled to score Townsell and Weaver later hit a sacrifice fly to score Cauley.
Douglas put one more run across in the sixth when Blomstrom doubled and Harper singled to bring Blomstrom home.
Harper struck out three and walked 10 to pick up the win in the circle.