Dayton softball advances to state tournament

The Dayton-based Silverada 9-10 year-old all-star softball team stunned the District 3 field with its run through the district tournament in Elko, and is heading to the state tournament in Las Vegas for the first time in the history of the Silverada program.

Silverada will be traveling to Las Vegas today and will be playing its first game against the District 2 champions on Saturday in North Las Vegas.

The group showed poise even when losing its second game and

being forced into the consolation bracket. Pitching was huge, as the Dayton team was led by three of the best 10 year-old pitchers in District 3.

Silverada avenged an earlier loss by beating Battle Mountain twice, 9-8 and 18-7 in the championship round.

In its 9-8 win with the game tied in the bottom of the sixth inning and two outs and two strikes on Matia Spencer, she hit a hard grounder to the second baseman who bobbled the ball and rushed her throw, drawing the first baseman off the bag, allowing Danelle Freitas to score the winning run.

Breanne DeHaven was the starting pitcher and pitched five strong innings with five strikeouts. Brittany Burrows closed the game with two strikeouts.

The bats came alive with DeHaven going 3-for-4 with a double, Burrows going 3-for-4 with two doubles, Danelle Freitas going 3-for-4, Alicia Merrell going 2-for-4, Christina Kristian going 4-for-4, and Brittney Berumen going 2-for-2.

In a contest only lasting four innings in Silverada's 19-7 win, Burrows started the game strong, pitching all four innings with seven strike outs.

Offensively the bats continued their domination of the opposing teams' pitching with Kayla Skog going 3-for-3 with one walk, DeHaven going 2-for-3, Burrows going 2-for-2 with two walks, Freitas going 2-for-2, Kristian going 2-for-3, and Brittany Hall going 1-for-1 with two walks as Silverada won its first ever District 3 softball championship.

Silverada opened with a 19-8 win over Elko. Freitas was the starting pitcher for Silverada, pitching three innings. Relief pitching was strong with DeHaven, Hall and Burrows all pitching one inning to hold a strong Elko team down.

Offensively the bats came alive with Skog going 2-for-4 with a double, DeHaven going 4-for-6 with 2 doubles, Burrows going 2-for-4 with a double, Freitas going 3-for-4, Alicia Merrell going 2-for-4, Spencer going 2-for-2 with one double, Hall going 2-for-4 and Kara Mayer going 1-for-1 with two walks.

Silverada then lost 18-17 to Battle Mountain. DeHaven started the game strong, pitching three innings and only giving up five runs. The relief pitching struggled toward the end of the game when the strike zone seemed to disappear, walking in the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Silverada hung in the game with Skog going 2-for-4, DeHaven going 4-for-4, Merrell going 2-for-2 with three walks, Brittany Curtis going 2-for-3, Brittney Berumen was hit by a pitch and walked and Kelly Wilkerson walked twice to keep the game close. The game was heart breaking for the team considering it was leading the entire contest until the end.

Silverada rebounded to beat Elko 20-8. Freitas came out strong pitching a complete game while striking out 12 batters. Silverada's offensive machine rallied behind Freitas, scoring 20 runs with DeHaven going 4-for-6, Burrows going 3-for-4 with two doubles, Freitas going 5-for-6 with one double, Merrell going 2-for-5, Kristian going 2-for-3 with two walks, Spencer going 2-for-3 with two walks, Hall going 2-for-3 and Berumen going 1-for-1 as Silverada advanced to the championship round.