By Breven Honda
The diamonds at Virgin Valley High School were filled with competition all season long.
After baseball won the state championship and softball came up just short in the state championship game last year, both teams were in the same situation 12 months later.
Photo by Desert Damon
This year, both teams reached the 3A South Regional Championship. Although the baseball team lost its regional, softball won for its third straight regional title.
Then it was on to the Class 3A Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association state tournament. However, the state playoffs were held at Virgin Valley High School, making it a bonus for both teams.
Baseball head coach Dan Wright said playing at home for the state tournament was well worth it, especially for the baseball team, who earned three straight victories – while facing elimination.
“Being home for the state tournament was a really quite unique experience,” Wright said. “That’s honestly what made going down and winning those games in the region tournament, qualifying for state, the fact that we were hosting the state tournament, made that even more sweet.”
After taking down Sports Leadership & Management of Henderson in the opening round of the regional tournament on May 11, Wright’s team lost 3-1 to Boulder City that set up its winning streak against Western, Moapa Valley and a redemption victory against Boulder City to reach the championship game.
Wright said he saw the boys seize the moment in order to reach the regional championship.
“We remained confident, although we knew it was gonna be tough” Wright said. “When you see it in your team, and you’re one game away from being eliminated, it definitely creates a little bit of a sense of urgency and a desire to really come through.
“The way that the boys were able to understand that and be in that loser’s bracket and win those three games, I couldn’t be more proud of the boys and how they responded. It was phenomenal.”
On the softball side, they entered the regional tournament perfect at 32-0.
During the playoffs, they did not allow any of their four regional opponents to score a run (23-0, 10-0, 11-0 and 15-0) to win another regional title.
After averaging nearly 15 runs per game in the regionals, softball head coach Travis Griffiths said it was going to be a challenge for any team trying to keep them off the board.
“You always knew that they were going to generate runs,” Griffiths said. “I mean, you just knew with the girls that we have that they would generate runs and it was going to be tough to stop us offensively.”
In the state tournament of the friendly confines at Virgin Valley High School, both teams won their opening games. Baseball defeated South Tahoe, the top team from the 3A North region, 5-3, despite giving up two first inning runs before scoring four times across the final three innings. Bulldogs junior Bryce Intagliata threw a complete game for the win while striking out seven.
Softball put up five runs in the fifth inning to win 7-5 over Lowry of Winnemucca. Senior Riley Price went the distance, allowing two earned runs and striking out nine.
With the win, it continued its undefeated season, 37-0, and surpassed last year’s winning streak that reached 33.
Both teams were two wins away from the state championship.
Softball faced North Valleys, the top team from the Class 3A North Region. It was a rematch on the baseball diamond as the Bulldogs faced Pahrump Valley, a team they had not beaten in two earlier opportunities during the season, including the regional championship.
Baseball trailed 8-1 entering the top of the seventh. After scoring five runs to get within two, the comeback attempt could not be complete, losing 8-6.
On the softball field, Virgin Valley opened the scoring in the third and North Valleys tied the game in the sixth. The Bulldogs had an opportunity to add on by plating a run, but it was called back, and the game remained tied and went to extra innings. North Valleys scored a run in the top of the 10th inning. Virgin Valley continued its rare scoreless innings streak to seven as it was unable to score, losing 2-1.
Both teams then played immediately after, facing elimination, needing a win and an opportunity in the championship.
Both baseball and softball reunited against their opening round opponents; softball faced Lowry and baseball squared off against South Tahoe.
Both teams ultimately could not advance to the championship as softball lost 3-2 and baseball also lost 9-1.
“We just didn’t hit like we normally do and even then, we still had our chances to win,” Griffiths said. “But they’re quality teams. We knew that those teams coming out of the North, whoever came out, this year was Lowry and North Valleys, would be very good teams and so in no way did we overlook them.”
“Their hitters were just relentless,” Wright said. “From one through nine, they were tough outs and took good at bats and put the pressure on us. Unfortunately, we fell a couple reps short against Pahrump. They were tough offensively and made the plays on defense.”
As a result, another successful season came to an end for baseball and softball at Virgin Valley.
Griffiths said success for not only his squad, but also the baseball team can persist with the right culture for years to come.
“I think that the level of play on both baseball and softball has been at a high level, and I think that both programs feel like that they can continue playing at that high level,” Griffiths said.
