RENO -- The Reno Huskies have won a lot of games this season and they've won a lot of different ways. Carson made them win in a way on Saturday that they've only had to do once before, which is come from behind.
Ryan Simpson hit a game-winning, two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh as the Huskies won their third zone title in five years with a 10-8 win over the Senators in the Northern 4A championship game at Zunini Field.
"Our kids showed they can come back and we haven't had to do that much this year," said Reno coach Pete Savage. "Guys stepped up all game long. In playoff baseball, you expect close games. We want pressure games. We had three goals at the beginning of the season. We have two of them. Next week we have to go get the third."
The Huskies, who went undefeated in the Sierra League and did the same in the zone tournament, will take their 33-game win streak and No. 21 national ranking into next week's NIAA/U.S. Bank 4A State Tournament in Las Vegas. Reno will play Palo Verde, the Sunset Region's third seed, in a first round game on Thursday. Carson, which will be the No. 2 seed from the north, will play Sunrise Region champion Green Valley, which beat Silverado 9-4 on Saturday.
And for the second time in three years, Garrett Banks, who transferred to Reno after his freshman year at Galena, became one of several stars for the zone champions. He was the winning pitcher in the 2001 zone title game at Zunini Field when the Grizzlies beat Reno.
However, he lucked into being the winning pitcher this year.
"It ended the same way but it was a different scenario. I wasn't in the starting lineup today but it all worked out," said Banks, who came in for Jeff Schoenbachler in the top of the seventh with the game tied 8-8. "We haven't had many close games this season. But these are the kinds of games that show you how good of a team you are. It shows if you're clutch or not. It shows what kind of character you have."
The Senators went up 6-4 in the fourth after Willie Bowman's sacrifice fly scored Aaron Henry. But the Huskies got a run back in the fifth and then Banks' RBI double in the sixth tied the game at 6, which successfully erased the Senators' two-run lead they were hoping would hold up. But Reno wouldn't let it happen.
Trevor Puryear, the Huskies' No. 9 hitter, singled and as Banks was rounding third, Savage tried to hold him up. Banks ignored the plea and scored the go-ahead run. Reno then went up 8-6 after a Drew Lipsnosky's grounder that scored Puryear.
Carson starter Ryan Henry pitched well enough to win. He lasted 5 1/3 innings and didn't walk a single batter before being replaced in the sixth by Jake Rasner. The Huskies, though, believed they're always going to win because, well, they're 33-1.
"Our kids do expect to win," Savage said. "They work had at it."
In the top of the seventh, Neil Holmes drew a walk from Chris Rickey and Savage replaced him with Schoenbachler. Schoenbachler threw his typical 90 mph fastball, but was also threw his typical wild pitches, which allowed the Senators an easy run. Cameron Leck struck out and then Tony Teixeira walked. John Parmenter, who was pinch running for Holmes, and Teixeira advanced to second and third after Schoenbachler's first wild pitch. Mike Handley's sac fly to center field scored Parmenter, who could've scored on a previous wild pitch but elected to stay at third.
Aaron Henry, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles, singled to put runners on the corners. Schoenbachler's next wild pitch scored Jared Wulff, who was pinch running for Teixeira, as Carson tied the game at 8. After walking Jon Teeter, Banks came in for Schoenbachler and got Owen Brolsma to ground out to end the inning.
Drew Johnson hit a lead off single off Rasner in the bottom of the seventh, then Simpson hit a homer over the left field wall on the second pitch he saw.
"It's good that we had a game like this because this is how all the games at state are going to be," Banks said. "It's nice to win by 10 runs all the time but this is better. This was a real baseball game."
Coach Ron McNutt, whose team lost three games to Reno last weekend, figured his team was going to avenge those three losses in the his team's biggest game of the season.
"I think Ryan Henry pitched well and I thought we'd be able to win with Jake Rasner out there," McNutt said. "Again, we made a few mistakes. If we don't do that, we probably win in seven innings."
