Monday, March 24, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Maybe, since Plan A was scrapped, the baseball programs at Durango at Green Valley could revert to Plan B. If all goes well, that is.
Plan A was simple enough, a regular-season matchup pitting what might be the two best teams in Nevada against each other at Durango last Thursday. Great, everyone enjoy.
Wrong.
That highly anticipated matchup never materialized, because the Gators amended their schedule and added two tournaments -- one in Yuma, Ariz., which concluded on Sunday, and another in San Diego, which began today.
Which leads us to Plan B, a possible matchup in the Southern Nevada Class 4A Zone tournament in two months. And the speculation as to which team is better surely will rage between now and then.
While Green Valley has gone out and demolished four teams from Clark County, the Trailblazers have been keeping up the pace nicely. They might even be the pacesetters, but how will we know until May?
Durango improved to 7-0 on Friday with a 12-1 decision over Boulder City. Nick Aiello belted a home run for the Blazers and had three hits.
Even though a Durango-Green Valley pairing won't be happening anytime soon, it's just as well. Because by early indications, it is clear that the Sunset Division is the superior of the two leagues, and the Trailblazers figure to have plenty of company at the top of the standings.
Cimarron-Memorial is among that group. The Spartans won their first five games, but finally were beaten on Friday, 8-4 by Valley.
Bishop Gorman is off to a flying 7-1 start, and the Gaels look to be adequately equipped to beat anybody. Gorman's weekend included a 14-4 thrashing of Chaparral and a 12-3 beating of Basic.
Silverado also has been impressive, as the Skyhawks are 5-1. They beat Eldorado 8-5 over the weekend.
Since today begins spring break for Clark County, the schedule is very light. Only a handful of local teams have any games scheduled this week, and none against each other. Full schedules resume April 1, no fooling.
Bits and pieces
* SOFTBALL: The Clark Invitational Easter tournament started this morning out at the Community College of Southern Nevada. Twenty-four teams, including 10 from Clark County, are entered for three days of competition. The championship game is scheduled 1:45 p.m. Wednesday. The top two teams from each pool (12 teams in each) face off in the final.
* BASKETBALL: Another local boys' basketball coach is out of work, the third in less than two weeks. Boulder City has removed Thad Simmons, principal Bill Garis said. "I believed that a change was necessary in order to do what is best for the basketball program," said Garis. The position is to be opened to Clark County School District applicants through April 7. Rancho recently let Tony Hopkins go, replacing him with the legendary Joe Stein, and Silverado did not renew the contract of Bill Crego.
* GOLF: The Pahrump Valley/Calvada Invitational tournament was contested on Friday and Saturday, with Bishop Gorman winning the top flight, the Gold Flight. The Gaels beat Bonanza by three shots (549-552), despite the efforts of Bengals' senior Billy Harvey. Harvey was the top medalist in his flight, shooting 128. The schools did not complete the second round, so scores were lower. Harvey bested Gorman's Tyler Mays by three strokes, and Gorman's John Carzoo was tied for third at 135. Green Valley was third in the Gold Flight, eight shots behind Gorman. The Silver Flight was won by the Bonanza Gold team at 608, two shots ahead of Lowry. The medalist was Durango's Brandon Howard, who shot 144. The Meadows captured the Maroon Flight with a score of 637.
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