The Winnemucca 9-11 year-old Little League all-star team heads to Carlin looking to secure a spot at the State Championships in Boulder City on July 17.
The boys have a first-round bye in the tournament. They will play on Friday at 6 p.m. against the winner of the Elko/Ruby Mountain (Spring Creek) game played on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
The Winnemucca 9-11 all-stars are managed by JJ Pointon; Donovan Walker and Matt Hislop are the coaches.
The players on the team are Pete Bengochea, Txema Bengochea, Taevyan Grau, Michael Heikkila, Amador Guzman, Maddex Hislop, Bryce Niblack, Logan Pointon, Jace Sartor, Erick Valencia, Donovan Walker, Kayden Yowell, and Connor Peterson.
“I have coached a lot of these kids since youth soccer when they were five years old so I have a good repoire with them and that has built a lot of confidence in them," Pointon said. "Their teamwork and the way that they play together is spot on. My expectation for this team is that we go to state. It is a bold prediction, but we have a first round bye so if we win two we are in. We have played both of these teams throughout the past few years and we have done very well against them. The kids have really started to improve on their fundamentals and that is the key to any victory.”
This double-elimination tournament will continue until the championship game at 8 a.m. on Saturday, with a second championship game if needed being played at 10 a.m.
