Eight 10-12 year old Little League all-star teams in District Three began play last weekend in Winnemucca to earn the honor of moving on to the state tournament in Boulder City.
The Opening Ceremonies were held on the main Little League field Saturday, June 29th beginning at 6 p.m.
The night featured a pitching contest, a homerun derby, a dunk tank, and a movie night was held on the field.
The games began early on Sunday, June 30 at 8 a.m. with Silverada (Dayton) taking on Walker River (Yerington). Silverada took down Walker River 9-7 to move on in the winner’s bracket, and then the Winnemucca boys squared off against High Desert (Fernley) at 10:30 a.m.
High Desert took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, and neither team scored again until Fernley tacked on another run in the fifth for a 2-0 advantage. In the bottom of the sixth Winnemucca rallied to tie it up 2-2 and send the game into extra innings.
In the seventh inning both teams had runners on base, but neither could grab the winning run. High Desert left a runner on third in the top of the eighth and Winnemucca took advantage in the bottom for a 3-2 win.
The Winnemucca 10-12 all-stars are managed by Brad Bauman. Rhett Harbor and Matt Growcock are the coaches. The players on the team are Jakob Bauman, Brandon Cardenas, Tomas Chavez, Kaleb DesJardins, Joseph Esquibel, Kayd Garner, ReiCyan Grau, Zaquery Growcock, Jhett Harber, Kaleb Koons, Gabriel Lange, James Putvain, Aidan Tregellas.
“It was a very exciting game. I told the boys when we went into extra innings that this is why we play the game, for excitement like this," Bauman said after the game "At the end of it, no matter which team won, it was a great baseball game. From the get go I told all of these players they need to come together and work as a team, and that teamwork ended up paying off. When they do that at 12 years old it is going to carry a long way for them, not only in baseball, but in life. Those are the important things.”
On Monday, Winnemucca took on Silverada at 5:30 p.m. in the winner’s bracket. Results of the contest were not available at press time.
If Winnemucca wins, they will play at 8 p.m. on Wednesday. A loss sends the squad into the loser's bracket and a Tuesday contest at 8 p.m.
“Dayton hits the ball very well, so we need to be ready to field it,” Bauman said.
This double elimination tournament will continue until the championship game at 6 p.m. on July 5, with a second championship game if needed being played at 9 a.m. on July 6.
