Carson to host Little League tournament

When Northern Nevada's top players compete in the district Little League tournament, Carson City's all-stars will be the home teams.

Carson City will host the 9-10-year-old and 11-12-year-old district tournaments, which will run from this Saturday through July 16 at Governors Field. Twenty-eight teams from the Reno, Truckee, Lake Tahoe and Carson Valley areas will play in the tournament. The tournament champions in each division will advance to the state championships.

The Carson American 9-10-year-old all-stars will be the first home team to take the field when they open play at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The Carson National 11-12-year-olds will open at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, the Carson National 9-10-year-olds will open at 5:30 p.m. Monday and the Carson American 11-12-year-olds will open at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Here's a look at Carson's four all-star teams:

Carson 11-12 Nationals -- "Everybody's been making excellent progress," manager Tim Terry said. "We've got high hopes. We'll be ready on Sunday, I'm sure."

Two of the Nationals' players with plenty of size and talent are Kyle Mandoki and Cody Bone. Mandoki and Bone will be two of the Nationals' top pitchers along with left-hander Rob Valerius.

Terry said Mandoki has a fastball that reaches 70 miles an hour, impressive for Little League. Bone will be the team's catcher when he's not pitching.

The Nationals' tentative lineup will have Brad Cobler at first base, Valerius in center field, Tyler Simms at second base, Pat Riggs in right field, Zach Werner at shortstop and Cody Barr or David Garnett at third base. Other outfielders will be Matt Rutledge, Sam Osheroff and Jeff Butler. "We've still got a few spots up in the air," Terry said.

The Nationals also plenty of pitching depth. "We've got a lot of kids that can pitch," Terry said.

Bone, Valerius and Mandoki all have home run power and Mandoki led the team in home runs during the regular season.

"Mandoki's kind of all-around," Terry said. "He's got a lot of speed and a lot of power."

Carson 9-10 Nationals -- "I've got a great bunch of kids," manager Earl Prather said.

The nationals have two players who played in the 11-12-year-old division this year in C.J. Davis and Jeremy Asis.

"I think both these guys are going to be a big asset to us," Prather said. "They've seen the likes of Cody Bone and Kyle Mandoki."

Davis, Asis, Danny Gall and Ricky Martinez are all candidates to be the starting pitcher in the Nationals' opener.

"They're the guys that throw hard and are fairly consistent," Prather said.

Prather said he has at least seven players who can pitch. "Maybe even more than that," he said.

Prather said he hasn't set his lineup. "There's no lock on positions," Prather said. "I'm kind of a last minute guy. I want everybody thinking and wanting to play ball."

Prather said he should have a balanced lineup. "My whole team hits the ball pretty well," he said.

Other team members are Andrew Detering, Joshua Peacock, Brett Meyers, Brent Moyle, David Holcomb, Blake Cottle, Cameron Mayville and Shea Bondi.

Carson 11-12 Americans -- "I think we look really good," manager Kevin Leid said. "We've got solid pitching."

Among the top pitchers should be David Eller, Christian Volker, left-handed Stephen Sawyers and David Leid. Leid, Volker and Drew Good are all returning players from last year's all-star team.

The tentative lineup will have Sawyers at first base, Kyle Stone at second base, Volker at shortstop, Leid at third, Stephen Meyers at catcher and Good, Micah Hand and and Bryan Byrne in the outfield. Rounding out the team are Konrad Perkins, Jonathan Singer and Nathan Reno.

Among those who will be counted on to lead the attack are Eller, Leid, Good, Volker and Meyers.

Carson 9-10 Americans -- "We've been working hard and we've got some talent," manager Scott Scherer said.

Beau Bickel should be among the top pitchers. Other position players will include Jordan Anderson at first base, Brett Valley at center field and second base, Matt Scherer at catcher, Blake Plattsmier at shorstop and Collin Grischott at third base.

Dom Mariani, Colby Blueberg, David Charles, Anthony Morris, Timoty Miranda, Anthony Torkeo and Michael Gascon can all play the outfield, manager Scherer said. Bleuberg is a utility player who can play in the infield as well, Charles can also be used at catcher and Torkeo can play first base, Scherer said.

The Americans also have plenty of pitching depth. "We've probably got eight guys that were comfortable with pitching," Scherer said.

Charles Whisnand is the Nevada Appeal Sports Editor.