Silverado, Durango clinch state softball berths

After failing to win its division for the first time in six years, Silverado's softball team wasn't about to let its string of five consecutive state appearances end as well.

Down to their final out in the second round of Wednesday's 4A Southern Zone Tournament at Sunset Park, the Skyhawks rallied past Bonanza, 4-2 in nine innings, to grab one of the area's four berths to next week's state tournament in Reno.

"The kids came back and showed me what heart is all about," Silverado coach Chuck Pope said. "That's a great comeback against a great ballclub."

Also claiming a state berth Wednesday was Durango, which held on for a hard-fought 2-1 win over Sunrise Division champion Green Valley.

Ironically, the Skyhawks and Trailblazers had the toughest time winning during Wednesday's early session, with both shaking off tough opponents to remain in the winner's bracket.

The Skyhawks (27-10) started things off a 1-0 win over Cimarron-Memorial, while Durango (27-8) needed eight innings to get past Basic by an identical 1-0 score.

Silverado and Durango will meet today at 4 p.m., with the winner advancing to Friday's zone final.

The consolation bracket will feature a quartet of clubs battling for the two remaining state slots. Bonanza (27-4) will face Basic (17-13) in one 2 p.m. contest, while Cimarron (23-9) will take on Green Valley (26-7) in the other.

Chaparral and Palo Verde, the area's other two zone qualifiers, were eliminated on Wednesday after losing their first two games of the tournament.

* SILVERADO 4, BONANZA 2: Bonanza, which finished second in the state last year, appeared to have the game in hand, holding a 2-1 lead with two outs in the Silverado seventh.

But an error by Bengals third baseman Kerrie Campbell kept the Skyhawks alive, and Pope's club capitalized, sending the game into extra innings on April Arata's RBI double.

"Tradition took over a little there," said Pope, whose club has won the last two zone tournaments. "(Bonanza) is still the best team in town."

Silverado took its first lead of the contest in the ninth, with Kristen Toner and Arata providing the big hits -- a pair of two-out RBI singles.

Senior pitcher Tiffany Finateri did the rest, working 2 2/3 scoreless innings for her second win of the day.

"We got off to a slow start (this season), but we're finally starting to play like we know how," said Toner, who went 4-for-4 against the Bengals.

Silverado won despite a superb pitching performance from Bonanza's Christy Carrasco, who allowed just one earned run in nine innings.

* DURANGO 2, GREEN VALLEY 1: Sara Spenia's RBI single off Gator ace Renee Hietbrink was the difference as the Trailblazers became just the second area team to beat Green Valley this year.

Durango ace Aja Sherman limited the Gators to four hits en route to a complete-game victory.

Durango's early win over Basic was just as narrow, as Blazer pitcher Tisha Salamino limited the Wolves to three hits in the extra-inning 1-0 win.

Basic squandered several chances to pull ahead, most notably in the fourth inning, when the Wolves had runners on second and third with no outs, but Salamino worked out of the jam to keep the game scoreless.

The Wolves had another good opportunity in the top of the eighth, but Durango catcher Heather Dehart held onto the ball during a home-plate collision with Basic baserunner Rachael Richie. That set up Stefanie Fisco's game-winning double in the bottom of the inning.

archive