It turned out that Carson Little League manager Kinkade DeJoseph is a bit of a prophet.
After his Carson City 11-12 all-star team crushed Reno American 14-0 in five innings Thursday night at Governors Field, most of his players and parents were looking at a possible Saturday semifinal matchup with perennial powerhouse Washoe Little League.
DeJoseph wasn't so sure. He was willing to wait and see what was going to happen before talking about Washoe. It's a good thing he did because Washoe was knocked off 10-0 by Sparks Centennial.
Carson and Sparks Centennial will play Saturday at 8 p.m. with the winner heading to the finals.
Carson, which received a bye in the first round, has been dominant in its first two games. The locals have allowed just one run in 12 innings thanks to a deep, talented pitching staff.
"Our pitching is pretty good," DeJoseph said. "I think we're a good team. We're a better team (than last year). These kids have played a lot of travel ball together as a team, and that's important."
In Sunday's opener, DeJoseph let Bryce Moyle throw 65 pitches. Against Reno American, he opted to use Zach Simms (2 innings), Jayden DeJoseph (2) and Kyle Krebs (1). All three can throw if needed on Saturday because none surpassed 20 pitches.
"That (keeping everybody eligible) was part of it," DeJoseph said. "I wanted to give the guys some work. Kyle hadn't thrown in a while and we decided to give him a go."
All three pitchers were effective, as Reno had just four baserunners the entire game. Two reached base on singles.
Carson scored six runs in the first, and making this a mismatch early.
Moyle, who went 3-for-4 from his leadoff spot, opened the game with an infield single. He went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Jayden DeJoseph. After Krebs and Jace Keema walked, Tez Allen drove home two runs to make it 3-0.
Winning pitcher Zach Simms made it 5-0 with a two-run single and Kyle Glanzman's fielder's choice scored the final run.
Carson added one in the second and then went quiet until the fifth when it scored seven times to make it a run-rule game. Reno was careful to keep most of their pitchers at 20 pitches, and that caused some problems for Carson.
"Each time you see a new pitcher you have to make adjustments," the elder DeJoseph said. "Some throw hard and some don't throw as hard. I don't think we lost any of our intensity."
Keema finished with three hits as did Allen.
10-11: CARSON ELIMINATED
Sparks Centennial scored eight runs in the fourth inning and held off a furious sixth-inning rally to eliminate Carson City 13-11 at Governors Field.
Carson City finished with a 3-3 record in the tournament. The locals staved off two elimination games before losing Thursday.
"We started to come back a little bit," Carson manager Dom Mariani said. "Sparks played some great defense. Our defense just wasn't as aggressive as it needed to be or was in the past few games. We had a good tournament."
There were at least four balls where Carson infielders chose to sit back and wait for the ball instead of charging it, and each time the Sparks batter would beat the throw.
Sparks grabbed a 4-0 lead in the first off Brandon Gagnon, who gave up a two-run single to Cam Kygar and a two-run homer top Lincoln Turner.
Carson fought back to take a 7-4 lead, scoring two in the second and five in the third.
Ethan Good doubled home both of the runs in the second, as Gagnon and Nico Salm also hit safely. In the third, a wild pitch and passed ball accounted for two runs, while Good delivered another run-scoring hit.
That set the stage for Sparks' fourth-inning explosion. Sparks sent 12 batters to the plate, collecting 10 hits in the process of grabbing a 12-7 lead. Charles Douglas had a two-run single while Cameron Soubieau, Brennan Gilmore and Nico Howe also had run-scoring hits in the barrage.
Carson's Jerry Thomas smashed a solo homer to lead off the fourth to make it 12-8, and it stayed that way until the sixth.
Turner doubled and scored on a wild pitch to make it 13-8, but Carson roared back with three runs thanks to four walks and hits by Jayson Artz and Daniel Morrison. Turner, the last Sparks pitcher, recorded a strikeout with the tying run on first base.
Good and Morrison led the Carson offense with two hits apiece.