Carson 12's All-Star Eddie Tierney snags a line drive for an out against North Tahoe Wednesday night at Governor's Field.
Carson City got some help from the expected and unexpected Wednesday night at Governors Field.
The locals got homers from their top three hitters — Eddie Tierney, Kobe Morgan and Brian Guthrie. The unexpected help came in the form of Zaid Abdelhady. who allowed two runs in two-plus innings of relief in his tournament debut.
It all added up to an easy 13-5 win over North Tahoe in an elimination game in the District 1 12-year-old all-star tournament.
Carson looks to extend its winning streak to three tonight when it plays Reno Continental at 5:30 p.m.. The winner of that game advances to Friday’s third-place game, also at 5:30 p.m.
The win means that Carson manager Dave Navarro has to delay his vacation plans. He and his family were originally going to leave Thursday for a camping trip.
“I had a feeling this was going to happen, so I canceled the trip,” Navarro said after the win, Carson’s third of the tournament. “We’re going to be trying to get to Friday.
“This was a great team win. We had some guys step up. Ziad pitched excellent. He had one pitch, his fastball, and he was able to move in and out and up and down. He pitched during the season, but it was his first outing for us. Kyle (Navarro) had gone hitless in his last five at-bats and came up with a big single in the third.”
Carson took a 2-0 lead in the first when Tierney blasted a one-out homer to center to score Justin Nussbaumer, who had reached on a walk. North Tahoe tied the game in the bottom of the second with two unearned runs off Tyler Stagliano.
After Abdelhady worked out of a third-inning jam thanks to a diving catch by Tyler Gurrieri, Carson went ahead for good in the third with three runs off Jake Harrell.
Morgan, Tierney and Guthrie all walked to load the bases. After Wesley Simpson forced Morgan at the plate for the first out, Kyle Navarro stepped up a drilled a shot to left. The ball got by the left fielder, and all three runners scored. Navarro had struck out in four of his last five at-bats.
Abdelhady retired three straight in the fourth, and his teammates rewarded his effort with five runs for a 10-2 lead. Gurrieri had a two-run single, Riley Navarro had a run-scoring single and Nussbaumer and Guthrie both contributed infield hits.
Abdelhady was lifted for Ethan Foley after surrendering back-to-back singles in the fifth. A throwing error and singles by Jorge Cordiel and Tyler Knight led to two runs, cutting the deficit to 10-4.
In the fifth, Morgan led off with a towering homer to left-centerfield to make it 11-4, and after Tierney’s infield single, Guthrie pounded a homer to left-centerfield to make it 13-4.
Foley gave up a one-out homer to Jacob Collins in the top of the sixth for the final margin.
Tierney and Guthrie each had two hits, while Morgan, Nussbaumer, Gurrieri, Stagliano, Riley Navarro and Kyle Navarro contributed one each.
Harrell went 4-for-4 to lead North Tahoe.