Green Valley baseball wins Sunrise crown

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Friday, May 15, 2009 | 10:51 p.m.

Talk about peaking at the right time.

The Green Valley High baseball team scored six runs in the second inning Friday to capture its third consecutive Sunrise Regional crown with a 15-5 victory in six innings against host Las Vegas High. The win puts the Gators in next week’s four-team state tournament.

It’s a spot Green Valley, which has won eight state titles since opening in 1992, expects to be in every year. This year, however, their chances of making another memorable playoff run appeared slim.

Green Valley struggled in the initial month of the season and had an 8-10 record after losing to Foothill in its first Southeast Division game.

Some two months later, the Gators capped their turnaround by going undefeated in the regional tournament. They outscored opponents 42-8 in three victories.

“The kids kept fighting until they got on a roll,” Green Valley coach Nick Garritano said.

It’s a roll the Gators plan to continue during the state tournament. The double-elimination event is Thursday to Saturday at the College of Southern Nevada’s Henderson campus.

While winning the regional crown is a significant accomplishment, the championship that matters — especially at baseball-rich Green Valley — will be contested for next week. Green Valley last won the state championship in 2003 and rival Bishop Gorman has won the last three titles.

“(Winning state) is definitely always on your mind,” senior Jordan Van Hoosier said. “You always hear about those teams who have won and you want to be part of that tradition.”

Green Valley sent 10 batters to the plate during its six-run second inning. Rudy Strnad started the outburst with a two-run triple, Kyle Larimer had a two-run double and Tyler Blair and Bobby Shiroky had RBI singles.

Blair, who batted .407 with three home runs and 25 RBIs during the regular season, said the Gators were able to salvage their season by approaching the game as a team instead of individuals.

“We are just going out and having fun,” said Blair, who added an RBI double in the fifth inning. “When you have fun good things will happen.”

The Gators lost in last year’s state title game to Gorman and went 0-2 in the tournament two years ago. Despite the early-season difficulties, returning to the state event was always the goal.

“Winning takes care of a lot of problems,” Garritano said.

Las Vegas plays Gorman at noon Saturday at Green Valley for the final spot at state. Gorman, which opened the season ranked No. 1 by Baseball America, was upset by Cimarron-Memorial Friday in the Sunset Regional title game.

Las Vegas lost its Sunrise opener to Silverado and fought through the loser’s bracket to meet Green Valley in the finals.

The Wildcats were exhausted, and more importantly out of pitchers, from having to win three games in two days to reach the title game.

“We just couldn’t rebound from yesterday,” Las Vegas coach Sam Thomas said.

Las Vegas power-hitting catcher Bryce Harper hit a two-run home run in the third inning. It was his seventh home run in six tournament games.