Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Green Valley baseball extending glory days with run to state tournament

Green Valley Baseball Practice

Steve Marcus

Jarod Penniman, center, takes a water break as the Green Valley High School baseball team practices at the school in Henderson Monday, May 11, 2015. On Thursday, the team begins play in the four-team Division I state tournament, looking for the program’s first state championship since 2003.

Green Valley Baseball Practice

Matt Uran warms up with members of the Green Valley High School baseball team during practice at the school in Henderson Monday, May 11, 2015. On Thursday, the team begins play in the four-team Division I state tournament, looking for the program's first state championship since 2003. Launch slideshow »

The defining moment of the Green Valley High baseball team’s season may have come away from the diamond and before opening day.

The program hosted several former greats including coach Rodger Fairless, who won six straight state championships from 1993 to 1998, as part of a Hall of Fame commencement dinner months ago. Fairless gave a speech containing a plea that stuck with the current Gators.

“He basically called us out,” recalled senior center fielder Jarrett Perns. “He said we aren’t tough as they used to be. We took that to heart.”

Green Valley (28-6) returns to the state tournament for the first time in four years at 7 p.m. Thursday when it faces Arbor View (26-10) at Las Vegas High in the semifinals. The drought between appearances is the longest in school history, but might prove worth the wait.

The Gators arrive as the hottest team in the state having won 11 straight games. They’ll try to extend the program’s large-school classification record for state championships to nine.

Failure would give longtime rival Bishop Gorman, which opens the tournament against Reno at 4 p.m. Thursday at Las Vegas High, a chance to tie Green Valley’s tally of eight titles.

“I don’t feel like there’s extra pressure on us here,” coach Corey Gehlken said. “I feel lucky to be a part of such a great program. We take it as a privilege.”

Gehlken took over as Green Valley’s head coach in 2012, but has been part of the staff for 17 years. He coached each of Green Valley’s last two championship teams in 2001 and 2003.

The dynasty appeared to end after the pair of early-2000s triumphs largely because of the opening of Coronado and Liberty — which have won the last two state titles in 2013 and 2014, respectively — diminishing the district and, therefore, the pool of players. From 1993 to 2003, Green Valley produced 28 players who were drafted by Major League Baseball franchises.

The Gators don’t have that level of talent anymore, but the 2015 squad reminds Gehlken of past champions in what he regards as a more important way.

“Every time we had a great winning team, we would talk about how it wasn’t about how much talent we had,” Gehlken said. “It was about everyone being on the same page and pulling the rope in the same direction. And that’s the kind of group we have this year too.”

The team’s resolve was on display in the Sunrise Region championship game. Tied 5-5 with Coronado in the bottom of the sixth inning, Green Valley loaded the bases with no outs but came away with no runs.

Before they took the field for the final inning, senior starting pitcher Blake Inouye gathered the Gators and promised he wouldn’t give up a run.

“I made sure everyone knew I had their backs even though we didn’t do what we needed to do in the sixth inning,” Inouye said. “I was going to make sure we had another opportunity.”

Inouye mowed down the Cougars, but the Gators were nearing the bottom of their order on offense. It took a game-winning base hit from the No. 8 hitter, sophomore first baseman Drake Maningo, whom the Cougars intentionally walked a batter to face.

Maningo was an appropriate hero for a team that returned only four of their top 12 players from last season.

“We don’t have a superstar name where people are saying, ‘look out for this guy,’” Gehlken said. “And those are the teams I like to coach — the ones where a guy won’t mind putting down a bunt, looking to steal a bag or get hit by a pitch. They look for the little things that make this game so much fun.”

Some of them are starting to play like stars, though. Inouye hit a pair of home runs the day before his complete-game victory over the Cougars in an 11-1 win over Basic. Perns, who will be Inouye’s teammate again next year the College of Southern Nevada, has gone 12-for-16 in the playoffs.

They say the five other seniors on the roster —second baseman Jarod Penniman, outfielder Eric Samson, catcher Ty Burger, pitcher Christian Staub and pitcher Thomas Rivera — have played just as major of a role bringing the rest of the team together. They were all united after what they heard at the Hall of Fame dinner.

“I really kind of got angry about it,” Inouye said. “I was like, ‘I’m going to prove to him and everyone else that we can be just as tough as those other teams and possibly better than them.”

“It’s a personal challenge to all of us to carry on that legacy. They haven’t won a state championship in (more than) 10 years, so I feel like it’s our time now to do something."

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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