Seeding on the line for Wave

Fallon’s magic number is down to two.

After a rare instance of using an ineligible pitcher, the Elko baseball team forfeited one game to Truckee. The violation stemmed from the pitcher throwing more than 11 innings in a four-day period.

As a result, Fallon gained one game in the loss column without playing. However, the Greenwave closes out the Northern Division I-A season today and Saturday in a three-game series at South Tahoe.

Fallon hosted Sparks on Thursday in their season finale, but results were not available at press time.

Although Elko lost a game in the standings, the only affect the forfeit would have is in the seeding. Currently, Fallon (17-3 league, 17-8 overall) is in first followed by Elko (16-5, 19-7), South Tahoe (15-6, 17-9) and Spring Creek (13-8, 16-9).

Fallon locks up the No. 1 seed with one win against South Tahoe, while the Vikings could fall to the No. 4 if they are swept and Spring Creek sweeps Lowry (3-17, 5-19).

South Tahoe, though, could improve to the No. 2 seed if Elko is swept by Dayton (4-14, 5-14).

Realistically, the teams will probably finish where they currently sit as they prepare for next week’s Northern DI-A regional tournament at Dayton. Only the top two teams from the regional will qualify for the DI-A state tournament May 14-16 in Las Vegas.

Those games will be played at Las Vegas High School and at the Henderson campus of the College of Southern Nevada.

As for softball, the scenario is similar albeit with two different teams in the mix.

Fernley (19-1, 21-4) is on pace to capture the league title and will most likely battle Elko (11-10, 15-13) in the first round of the regional tournament at Dayton.

Fallon (17-3, 18-7) and Lowry (15-5, 18-6) are currently slated to meet with the winner facing the victor of the Fernley-Elko showdown.

Like baseball, only the top two teams from the Northern DI-A will qualify for the state tournament.

Fallon and Fernley have tangled in the past two championship games and have combined to win seven of the past eight state titles. Only Boulder City (2010) has been able to crack the Lahontan Valley’s softball dominance.

The softball state tournament will be played at Bishop Gorman High School and UNLV.