Dayton slugger Nick Hein blasts a homer earlier this season against Spring Creek.
SOUTH TAHOE — It has been a fun season for the Dayton High baseball team.
Not only did the Dust Devils chalk up 20 wins, but they finished second in the regular season and earned a first-round bye in the postseason tournament that gets underway today at Todd Field at South Tahoe Middle School.
The Dust Devils play tonight at 6 against the winner of the South Tahoe-Elko game. Dayton took two of three from South Tahoe during the regular season and lost twice to Elko to open the season. In both losses, Dayton blew eight-run leads.
The top two teams qualify for next weekend’s state tournament at Faith Lutheran.
“The kids are very excited,” Dayton coach Mike Burrows said. “We had two good days of practice and Wednesday was just putting the spit and polish on it. We are ready to go.
“This tournament is wide open. What you did in the regular season doesn’t mean anything now. I expect to see a lot of tight games, and this is the first year where pitch count has come into play.”
Pitching is one area where Dayton excels thanks to its starting trio of Trevor Burrows, Isaac Von Schoff and Dylan Baker.
Trevor Burrows went 7-2 with a 1.28 ERA, Baker was 5-2 and a 2.39 ERA, and Von Schoff was 5-0.
After that it gets sketchy. The remainder of the staff combined threw less than 16 innings. Nick Hein (0-0, 8.40 in three games) and Avery Nelson (1-0, 18.90 in six appearances) would be the most logical choices.
“I don’t know who is going to pitch,” coach Burrows said. “We’ll scout them in the morning and then make a decision. Our pitching has held up pretty well all season.”
Dayton has been a solid defensive team, especially after that first-week meltdown against Elko.
“Our point of emphasis is to keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Burrows said. “I told the team don’t try to be something you’re not. Make the routine play on defense and hit the ball hard. In games we’ve hit the ball hard we’ve been able to score runs.”
In 11 of their league wins, the Dust Devils have scored nine or more runs. Fallon was the one team that held Dayton in check, limiting the Dust Devils to eight runs in the three-game series.
The Dust Devils, who hit .351 as a team, have four starters hitting over .400. Jesse Schmidt is at .448 with five homers and 35 RBI, Jake Madsen is at .429 with 11 RBI, Trevor Burrows is hitting .417 with three homers and 25 RBI, and Justin Schmidt is at .414 with a homer and 29 RBI.
Baker is hitting .356 with a team-leading seven homers and 25 RBI and Zach Woitas hit .338 with 25 RBI.
SOFTBALL
CHS girls open with Reed
RENO – The much-improved Senators, who went 8-12 in league play, drew top-seeded Reed and ace right-hander Julia Jensen in their playoff opener today at 12:30 p.m. at Bishop Manogue.
Carson is making its first playoff appearance in six years.
The team starts four freshmen and two sophomores, and has come a long way in the past three years. Of Carson’s 12 league losses, six were by two runs or less.
“We doubled our win total in league (8),” coach Shane Quilling said.
“In the past two of those wins came against Hug. We didn’t play Hug this year, so we actually had eight wins. It’s kind of exciting. We could have won five or six more games. We have made a lot of mistakes this year, and that is going to happen with a young team.
“We have made progress in the last two years. We’ve gone from getting 10-runned 90 percent of the time to being able to play with everybody, even the best teams, for three or four innings. We have done a lot of good things this year.”
The teams met four times this year, and Reed won all four by a combined score of 42-8. Quilling expects to see Jensen in the circle.
“We rocked their No. 2 for five runs,” Quilling said. “They would be crazy not to start Julia. She is 17-1, and there is a reason why she got offered in the Pac-12.”
Quilling said fielding will be the biggest key in the tournament. Carson made 89 errors, and 69 were in the infield.
“We have to play clean on defense,” Quilling said. “Anything can happen in one game. I think we can win one or maybe two games this week.”
Carson has a solid offense and hit .317 during the season. Kailee Luschar, the crafty left-hander, hit .516 with four homers and 14 RBI. Pitcher Jailene Salceido is hitting .385 with six homers and a team-leading 31 RBI. Shortstop Bella Kordonowy hit .333 with eight homers and 25 RBI. Camryn Quilling got hot in the latter stages of the season and is at .282 with two homers and 14 RBI.
The Senators also have Kassidy Cooley at .273, Lauren Lemburg at .265, Alex Salceido at .265 and Faith Bigelow, who hit .342 as a part-time starter.
Dayton takes on Fernley
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE — The Dust Devils, who grabbed the sixth and final qualifying spot, meet Fernley today at 11:30 at South Tahoe High School. Dayton went 10-19 overall and 9-15 in 3A regular-season play.
Fernley swept the regular-season series, and Dayton coach Dusti Houk knows her team needs to click in every facet of the game to pull off an upset.
“We have to limit our mental errors as well as our physical errors,” Houk said. “We need to play the game smart. Fernley is a tough team, and I have a great deal of respect for their program.
“The girls need to have good approaches at the plate and be disciplined. We left a bunch of runners on during the regular season. We need to score now.”
Dayton’s offense is led by sophomore shortstop Aleea Howe (.411, 5 HR, 26 RBI), freshman catcher Julie Rogacs (.365, 24 RBI), Elizabeth Vincent (.275, 12 RBI) and infielder Tamia Powell (.325, HR, 9 RBI) .
Onstott has been Dayton’s top pitcher, and she’s expected to start in the circle today. She was 6-16 during the season, but posted a shutout against Truckee in the final series of the regular season.