The calendar says March, but fall high school sports are in full swing in Northern Nevada. Last summer the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association moved the calendar around and placed fall sports in March and April due to Covid-19 and the restrictions that were in place.
It’s a rookie mistake to underestimate your opponent, an error the Pershing County Mustangs are unlikely to make. In 2017, the CASR Falcons (Coral Academy of Science — Reno) became the first charter school in Nevada to field a football team. The last time Coral came to Lovelock, on Oct. 24, 2019, the Mustangs sent them packing 50-0. But the Falcons have persevered. They’re eager to challenge the Mustangs this Friday at 7 p.m. under the lights of Joe Yanni Field, dimmed for nearly a year now.
The first thing the girls saw when they walked into the gym was guest coach Shauna Bake’s smile. Then they noticed a quote on the whiteboard. It summed up Derek Jeter’s philosophy, and by extension, Bake’s. “There may be people who have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do,” said Jeter, a baseball Hall of Famer and five-time World Series champion.
Thirty-two Pershing County Mustangs and a few coaches couldn’t be any happier. Football is off the no-play list and can move forward with a 2021 spring season. Gov. Steve Sisolak’s recent announcement kicked the Mustangs into high gear. “Practice has been really good so far,” said Mike Brooks, now beginning his third year as head coach. Some of the players worked out over the past several months. Logan Oberman, Haydon Burrows, Conner Fecht, Victor Flores, Bryce Sherron and Devin Moura earned backpacks for their efforts.
The Reno Aces are beginning the first field renovation in franchise history, replacing the original field from when the stadium was built in 2009. The new field will bring Major League quality and standards to the biggest little city.
There’s no need to worry about geography in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Get ready for plenty of talk about the so-called “S curve” instead. And don’t worry — it’s not that complicated. With the entire tournament taking place in or near Indianapolis, there is no reason for the four geographic regions that have been a part of past NCAA brackets. The NCAA doesn’t have to ensure the best teams play closer to home.
The Reno Aces have a schedule for the 2021 season. The season will consist of a six-game series each week, with every Wednesday off as a travel day. The 142-game slate begins at Greater Nevada Field on April 8 against the Sugar Land Skeeters, and ends on September 21 at home against the Salt Lake Bees.
The major league season is scheduled to start April 1 with the New York Yankees hosting Toronto and Detroit hosting Cleveland, part of an opening-day schedule of 15 games.
Blink, and you’ll miss it. Within days, the Pershing County High School volleyball and soccer teams begin official practice for their new seasons. They’ll play for six weeks, from Mar. 5 through April 10. As of press time, football remains on Governor Sisolak’s no-play list, along with wrestling and basketball. Blink again, and it all could change. Eight PCHS Mustangs recently spoke out in favor of changes they’d like to see, including the return of all high school sports and extracurricular activities.
Professional baseball will stay in the Biggest Little City for at least 10 more years, as the Reno Aces have accepted an affiliate invitation from the Arizona Diamondbacks. The 10-year agreement comes after the team signed Major League Baseball’s Professional Development License (PDL). “We are overjoyed to continue our longstanding partnership with the Arizona Diamondbacks,” said Aces president Eric Edelstein. “Northern Nevada is fortunate to have such incredible Major League partners, and our entire community has earned this opportunity to represent Triple-A Baseball in the new Major League Player Development system.”
It was a dream come true. Last Saturday, 19 members of the Pershing County 4-H Ski Club traveled to Sky Tavern for the Junior Ski Program’s opening day. They’ll return every Saturday for the next eight weeks to learn from trained instructors. Located on Mount Rose Highway, 30 minutes from Reno, Sky Tavern is America’s oldest nonprofit ski and snowboard training facility. It dates back to the Golden Age of Hollywood. Baseball legend Joe DiMaggio visited often. So did movie stars Rita Hayworth and Ingrid Bergman. In 1948, a local preschool teacher named Marce Herz talked the owners into lowering the lift prices for children. She believed in the transformative power of sports and wanted more kids to learn to ski and snowboard, her passions.
Former Reno Aces catcher Blake Lalli, who managed the Arizona Diamondbacks’ AA minor league team in Jackson in 2019, has been named the new manager of their AAA affiliate in Reno.
So much of it looked familiar — from the heartfelt rendering of the national anthem, to the silvery, star-studded halftime show, to Tom Brady standing there at the end with a mile-wide smile, awash in confetti.
Last Sunday, Nevada embarked on a pivotal four-games-in-eight-days stretch. This Sunday, the Pack walked off the Lawlor Events Center court with four-straight wins, and key sweeps of UNLV and Boise State after a 73-62 victory over the Broncos.
The stadium was full of cardboard cutouts and people in masks. A poet — yes, a poet — introduced us to some real heroes, and one of them handled the opening coin flip like she had done it 100 times before. On the field a woman joined the crew in stripes for the first time in a Super Bowl. Even the commercials reminded us — at times somberly — that this was a season like no other in a time unlike any other.