R-C Sports Notebook: Sorting out the playoff venues

There has been some confusion as to what the format for the upcoming high school baseball and softball regionals will be.

So consider this to be your explanation.

In baseball, Douglas won't receive the same fortune as last year, when the Tigers got to host the entirety of the baseball regionals. It was an expirimental year during which the High Desert and Sierra League champs were able to host their respective brackets and the championship game was played at the Sierra League site, which ended up being Douglas.

It worked out well for the Tigers and their fans, but apparently some officials and media types didn't enjoy the daily drive out here (which is funny considering we go out to Spanish Springs for basketball regionals ... but oh well).

Instead the top two seeds in each league will get to host their first round games, after which everyone will be broken up into a pair of double-elimination brackets at a "neutral" site. Incidentally, the two remaining teams at regionals in both baseball and softball will advance to the state.

Douglas has already clinched at least a home playoff game and can clinch the league title with a series win against Reno this week.

For the rest of the playoffs, the good news for Tiger fans is that the sites are Damonte Ranch and Manogue, places that A) are a relatively shorter drive from Minden, B) are pretty fine facilities in their own right and C) places where the Tigers play exceptionally well.

Winning the Reno series will put Douglas at Damonte Ranch for the playoffs (even a loss in the first round would still place the Tigers there) and losing the series will mean a trip to Manogue.

The championship game, which will pit the two bracket winners in a one-game shot, will be played at Manogue on May 10 at 1 p.m.

As it stands this week, the High Desert League is as cloudy as it comes. Regardless of what happens in the Sierra League, Douglas is looking at hosting Galena, Spanish Springs or Reed in the first round.

Galena is on a roll and figures to close out the season that way, which would put them in a different pairing in the first round, leaving either Spanish Springs or Reed " both dangerous teams in their own right (Again, Reed's C.J. Maldonado is a guy I simply would not want to see at the plate.).

Time, of course, will tell.

In softball, the regional tournament departs from Carson High for the first time in five years.

The entirety of the three-day, double-elimination tourney will be at Manogue.

Douglas has sealed up second place, which will put the Tigers against the No. 3 seed from the High Desert League at noon on May 8.

Fallon and McQueen have the inside track for the No. 3 seed at this point, although Manogue can still scrape into the playoffs in the event that McQueen falls flat on its face this week.

Fallon appears to be the team that will come in third, which should be an interesting matchup for the Tigers. A win for either team, however, almost certainly means a matchup with defending state champ Spanish Springs in the second round.

Having done this job for some time now, there are just times when I show up to a game and can tell without a doubt who is going to win based on the respective attitudes of the competing teams during warm-ups.

Watching the Douglas softball team take infield practice before Thursday's game against Damonte Ranch was one of those instances.

It's funny that something as seemingly obscure as an infield session could have any effect on the outcome of a game, but if you were there to see it, you understand what I'm saying.

The girls were out there making incredible defensive plays in succession to each other while (and this was probably the most important part) Damonte sat and watched.

Up until that moment, it might have been safe to say Douglas was the more intimidated team heading into the game, what with so many playoff implications on the line and such a young roster trying to sift through them.

After all, the team that lost the series was surely set to face powerhouses Spanish Springs or Reed in the first round of regionals.

But after that 10 minutes of infield, as silly as it might sound, there was no doubt in my mind Douglas would be walking away with a win.

The Lady Tigers came out and played their absolute best defensive game in two years and knocked the cover off the ball to boot.

It set the tone for the rest of the series as Douglas captured No. 2 in the Sierra League with a doubleheader sweep over Damonte Saturday.

After topping Carson 8-5 Thursday, the South Tahoe baseball team's upset against Douglas last week suddenly doesn't look like quite as much as a surprise. Douglas coach John Glover and Carson coach Steve Cook came away from their respective series' against the Vikings praising the scrappy team from the Lake.

It would appear that South Tahoe is for real, it just took them half the season to figure it out for themselves.

I saw something pretty strange while driving last week.

An umpire leaving a game down in the Valley was driving his car with a rule book pressed up against the steering wheel. He was taking turns glancing between the road and the book -- his finger lining out the text near the top of the page.

Here's hoping that's not the same approach he uses to make a double-play call.

When the Denver Broncos took former Reno High safety Josh Barrett in the seventh round of the NFL Draft Sunday, it got me thinking.

The stretch at the turn of the millenium between 1999 and 2002 may end up being the finest years, in terms of overall talent, in Northern 4A history.

Four guys who made their names locally during that time are now on NFL rosters, which percentage-wise is uncanny for a region of such a relatively small population.

McQueen produced two of them. Chris Carr has become a standout return man, most recently signing with Tennessee and quarterback Jeff Rowe was drafted by the Bengals last year and is working his way up the depth chart there.

Fallon grad Harvey Dahl had a standout career at Nevada and has bounced around the big league for three years, most recently signing with Atlanta after seeing a lot of time with the Packers last season.

And now Barrett, who I had the pleasure of interviewing during my days at the Reno Gazette when he committed to Arizona State in 2002, is bound for the Broncos, where he hopes to become the heir-apparent to future hall-of-famer John Lynch.

Throw in Douglas grad Gabe Hatchett, who saw a brief turn with the Miami Dolphins last year, and it was a pretty amazing time in Northern Nevada football.

As part of my growing theory that the barrel for inspirational sports rally cries has been scraped to the very bottom, I took note of what some of the athletes at Saturday's Big George Track & Field Invitational were wearing on the backs of their team T-shirts.

There were your basic song lyrics, "We Are Family" on McQueen's shirts, and Fallon even stole a line from Yoda, "Do or do not, there is no try."

There were some cliche's like "Attitude determines Altitude" and a really obscure gem from Galena, "All out of Bubble Gum."

But the best, or worst, of them all, and I'll not mention names here, came down to two schools.

School No. 1: "Work Hard"

School No. 2: "Keep Moving"

Good advice, all of it.

What university did Douglas High derive its current Tiger logo (the swooping Tiger head) from?

- I always appreciate innovative efforts to make sports practices more interesting, but this is one of the best I've seen so far.

The Douglas track and field team was seen playing Duck, Duck, Goose, last week during its recovery day from the North Valleys league meet.

I have to say, watching bona fide sprinters whirl around the circle in pursuit is pretty impressive.

- Douglas sophomore Ryan Moglich had as strong a varsity starting debut as I can remember over the weekend. The catcher/outfielder went 11-for-11 with seven RBIs against Hug.

- Douglas softball pitcher Stephanie Harper has started 21 of Douglas 26 games and made an appearance in two others.

Aside from her 18-4 record, she has 117 strikeouts and 45 walks, which works out to about five strikeouts and two walks per appearance. She may not be the most dominant pitcher in the Northern 4A this year, but no one has worked harder in the circle. And remember, she's still just a junior.

If I had a vote for overall player of the year in the Northern 4A Regional baseball and softball honors ballots (and I don't), this is what it would look like this week, based mostly on their respective performances over the last week:

Baseball

1. Jordan Hadlock (Douglas); 2. Jacob Anderson (Galena); 3. CJ Maldonado (Reed); 4. Joe Wieland (Manogue); 5. Glenn Wallace (Reno)

- Anderson won the marquee matchup on the mound against Wieland Thursday. However, Wieland, I'm told, is the region's best chance at having a Major League draftee this summer. Maldonado clocked a home run and four RBIs in the opener against McQueen and Hadlock remained at the top despite not seeing much time against Hug last week.

This week's series against Reno will be the big determiner for who wins the Sierra League player of the year award, although this late in the season it is hard to believe anyone other than Hadlock will win it.

Softball

1. Samantha Baker (Reno); 2. Ashleigh Rahming (Reno); 3. Mallary Darby (Spanish Springs); 4. Jaci Carlsen (Spanish Springs); 5. Stephanie Harper (Douglas)

- Baker is as complete a player as there is in the Northern 4A and coupled with Rahming, I still favor Reno as the eventual regional champions. Harper should have moved up one with her performance against Damonte Ranch, but Darby and Carlsen have that senior edge.

The top athletes, regardless of sport, at Douglas High determined by production during competion, overall value to their team, ability to perform with consistency in routine situations, performance compared to others at the same position throughout the stae/region, ability to come up big in clutch situations, versatility, attitude, sportsmanship, overall athletic ability, heart, potential at the next level, and a host of other intangibles (emotional leadership, role-playing value, work ethic, etc.) This is all, of course, just my opinion.

Spring Sports (Through April 26)

1. Jordan Hadlock, catcher/pitcher, baseball

2. Jessica Gorton, hurdler/field events, track & field

3. Derrick Jenkins, middle distances/high jump, track & field

4. Sarah Hartley, sprinter/field events, track & field

5. Thomas Wicker, golf

6. Katrina Morgan, catcher, softball

7. Tyler Hoelzen, pitcher/outfielder/first baseman, baseball

8. Stephanie Harper, pitcher, softball

9. Jessica Waggoner, track & field

10. Haley VonSchottenstein, swimming

2007-08 school year

1. Bridget Maestretti, volleyball/basketball/track

2. Tim Rudnick, football/basketball/baseball

3. David Laird, football/basketball

4. Jessica Waggoner, volleyball/basketball/track

5. Sarah Hartley, soccer/basketball/track

6. Brock Peterson, football

7. Jessica Gorton, basketball/track

8. Jeff Crozier, soccer/baseball

9. Jeff Nady, football/basketball

10. Tanner Thomas, baseball/football

Since I've been here (2003)

1. Luke Rippee, football/basketball/baseball (2003)

2. Brittany Puzey, basketball/softball (2003-04)

3. Bridget Maestretti, volleyball/basketball/softball/track (2004-08)

4. Tyson Estes, football/basketball/baseball (2003-05)

5. Ryan Pruitt, football/wrestling/baseball (2005-07)

6. Mike Gransbery, soccer/basketball (2004-07)

7. Kayla Dunn, volleyball/softball (2004-05)

8. Keith Olson, basketball (2004-07)

9. Jessica Waggoner, volleyball/basketball/track (2005-present)

10. Nate Whalin, football/basketball/baseball (2004-07)

Maybe it's just me, but the man-sized termite on the new Orkin Pest Control commercial really gives me the creeps.

Nevada Track Stats

www.nevadatrack.org

Most track athletes, fans and parents already know this one well, but this is basically everything you need to know about track & field in Nevada.

There are schedules, results, honor rolls with the best times and distances in the region to date. Throw in photo galleries and state records and you have a pretty complete site.

Towson. Douglas started wearing the logo on its football helmets during the 2003 football season, which was ironically a year before Towson began wearing the logo on its helmets. Prior to that, Towson wore yellow helmets with a "T" identical to the one Tennessee wears on its helmets.