The Carson National and American 9-10-year-old all-star teams got off to an impressive start as both won their openers in the District Little League Tournament on Saturday at Reno's Swope Middle School.
Carson National defeated Washoe 13-7 while Carson American beat South Tahoe 10-7.
After Washoe scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 7-6 lead, Carson came back to score seven runs in the sixth to go up 13-7. Max Keller started the rally in the sixth with a single.
"I was worried about being a little flat going into the last inning," Carson manager Gerry Okimura said. "But as soon as we got our first runner on, the kids were pumped. The kids are excited."
Starting pitcher Chance Quilling had the big blow in the inning, a three-run triple and he also scored on the play. Drew Moreland pitched a scoreless sixth for the save and went 2-for-2 with two RBI.
Quilling went the first 3 1/3 innings and Gehrig Tucker, who went 3-for-4 with three RBI, pitched 1 2/3 innings for the win. Quilling also had two hits and five RBI.
In addition for Carson, Charlie Banfield and Cody Scarlett had a hit and an RBI and Rory Peterson added a hit. Carson continues play in the tournament at 3:30 p.m. today against Reno American West.
Carson American took a 10-1 lead into the sixth inning before South Tahoe took advantage of errors to score six runs in the sixth. Austin Pacheco allowed one run through the first five innings, striking out 11, and Cole Dufresne pitched the sixth to pick up the save.
Zach White went 2-for-2 with two RBI and two runs, Dylan Sawyers went 2-for-4 with an RBI and three runs, Ben Drozdoff reached base twice and scored once, Pacheco had a hit and two runs and Collin McCulloch and Cody Reno each scored once. "We had some guys that hit really well," Manager Ron Pacheco said.
Carson also received outstanding outfield play from David Yamamoto, Dion Copoulos, Drozdoff and Stephen Anderson. "Our outfielders just played a tremendous baseball game," manager Pacheco said.
Carson wil continue play in the tournament at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday against Sparks Centennial.
