Moody column: New format for WNC baseball; Carson City’s Paoli honored

In seven years of covering Western Nevada College baseball, I’ve never liked the format of doubleheaders on back-to-back days.

Whenever I asked about it, I was told the reason for Friday and Saturday games was to keep the student-athletes in classes longer. I often wondered if that was the case, why not just play Saturdays and Sundays.

Well, the Scenic West Conference has unveiled a schedule which includes a single game on Thursday, a doubleheader on Friday and a single game on Saturday. Thus far every series is set up in that format, but coach D.J. Whittemore isn’t sure it will always happen.

“Thursday was a travel day for everybody,” he said. “None of the kids were in class that day. You can travel on Thursday and play that day. A few of the parks (Salt Lake, CSI and CSN) have lights, so Thursday could be a night game. I’m really not sure what is going to happen. Salt Lake is close to a lot of the places. We might play two series’ in that format or we might play four.”

Whittemore indicated decisions might not be made until Monday on the week of the series. He also pointed out that weather has forced some schedule adjustments. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Academics are important, but we’re talking about adults here. If they can’t be responsible enough to keep up with schoolwork on a road trip. maybe they shouldn’t be playing sports.

Western Nevada has seven Northern Nevada players listed on its current roster — Carson’s Gehrig Tucker, Galena’s Tim Lichty, Elko’s Cody Kerns, Douglas’ Kyle Johnson, McQueen’s Kody Reynolds and the Reno duo of Matt Young and Jeremy Peterson.

WNC opens the 2015 season against South Mountain Community College Jan. 30 in Las Vegas. WNC will play 56 games this year.

Circle March 24 on your calendar. That’s when powerful Sierra College comes to town. At last glance, Carson’s Chance Quilling and Chase Blueberg, both former CHS stars, were on the Sierra roster.

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Carson High graduate Juliana Paoli has gone on to bigger and better things since leaving Carson High.

Paoli is the chief marketing office for the San Jose Giants, the San Francisco Giants Single A affiliate, and the team was recently honored with the coveted Larry MacPhail Award, given to the top marketing and promotional team in minor league baseball.

It was the first honor for the San Jose Giants, and just the second in California League history. Paoli accepted the award on behalf of the organization at the awards ceremony in San Diego.

“The award is such a tremendous honor for our entire organization,” Paoli said in a press release distributed by the team. “Baseball has a way of bringing individuals together as a family to create memorable moments, both on and off the field. This award is the culmination of hard work and dedication by our San Jose Giants family.”

The San Jose franchise was recognized for its innovative approach of engaging fans through social media, a mix of community-centered events and exciting theme nights. The team drew more than 200,000 fans this season, an average of roughly 3,000 per game. It’s the sixth straight season the Giants have accomplished that feat. What is especially impressive is Municipal Stadium is one of the oldest stadiums in the minors.

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I implore the 49ers to let Colin Kaepernick be Kaepernick. That means throwing on the run, moving the pocket and running the read option. The Niners need to review his college tapes. He wasn’t a great dropback passer. For a 6-5 quarterback, he had a lot of passes batted down because of his 3/4 throwing motion. Running the read option opened the passing game up. I realize defenses made great adjustments to contain the read option after the initial season, but it’s still a viable option. Quit worrying about him getting hurt. If he’s in the open field, he can at least deliver a blow to a defender. In the pocket, he’s a sitting duck.

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Becky Grabow, the talented runner out of Sierra Lutheran, was named to the all-academic West Coast Conference cross country team. Kudos to her.

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And last, but certainly not least, my condolonces to local lawyer and outgoing District 1 Little League administrator Tim Terry, whose wife Laurel, passed away recently. I don’t know of two people who did more for the kids of Carson City than the Terry family. What about naming one of the Little League fields the Terry Family Field.