The Carson Valley 9-10-year-old All-Stars came up with two clutch victories over the weekend to open the Nevada District I Little League All-Star Baseball Tournament at Ranchos Aspen Park.
Carson Valley topped South Tahoe 3-2 Saturday and came back to beat Reno National 6-5 in extra innings Sunday.
Carson Valley trailed 5-1 with two outs in the last inning against Reno National, but put together an incredible rally to tie the game.
Kaleb Foster homered to get things rolling. Johnathan Hoyt and Jacob Evans each drew walks and James Herrick singled in a run. Alex Tessman then drove in two more runs to tie the game up with a single of his own.
"It was pretty tense," Carson Valley coach Mike Davies said. "The whole park was going nuts."
Brittian Nelson and Evans each came up with big catches in the outfield in the next inning to preserve the game for Carson Valley.
"That was a major highlight of the game," Davies said. "They each made an awesome defensive play. That kept us in the game."
In the seventh, Jordan White reached on an error and Zach Davies doubled. Matt Santos then doubled to score the winning run.
Reno National jumped out to an early lead despite a strong start on the mound from Foster. Santos came on in the third and allowed only one run in closing out the game for the win.
Carson Valley got on the board in the fourth after Foster singled. Santos reached on an error and Foster came around on a passed ball.
On Saturday, Cody Azevedo pitched a strong five innings for Carson Valley before Tessman came on in the sixth to close it out.
"It was a pitcher's duel all the way through," Davies said.
Azevedo singled twice and Herrick had a single as Carson Valley was able to manufacture just enough offense for the win.
10-11s
The Carson Valley 10-11-year-olds lost its opener to Reno National 6-2 on Saturday, but came back to beat South Tahoe Sunday 10-7.
Against Reno National, Cody Schmidlin got the start on the mound and threw two-hit ball through the opening half of the game. Sully Cauley and Kyle Johnson each took a turn in relief.
"It was one of those things where Cody threw a great game, but the ball just didn't bounce our way," Carson Valley coach Stacy Trivitt said. "All three guys were phenomenal."
Offensively, Carson Valley had two players knock their respective first home runs out with Kyle Johnson hitting a solo shot in the second and Austin Evans smacking one out in the third.
Reno National led 3-2 heading into the fifth, but got things going offensively to pull away.
Against South Tahoe, Carson Valley strung 14 hits together to overcome an early deficit for the win.
Trailing 2-0 in the second, Teddy Mason doubled and Seth Trivitt hit a line-drive double to the gap to score a run.
In the third inning, Evans led off with a base hit and Cole Peck doubled to score a run.
Parker Dixon followed with a single and Parker Hoshizaki brought Dixon around to score with a base hit.
Mason followed with another base hit to score Hoshizaki.
Dixon and Taylor Souza led off the fifth with twin hits and Cauley walked to load the bases.
Mason stepped to the plated and fell back 0-2 before blasting a grand slam home run.
Taylen Simms followed with a base hit, Evans walked and Schmidlin drove a run in. Cole Peck drew a walk and a passed ball allowed the final run to score.
Defensively, Souza made a nice catch in left field on a high line drive and Cauley had a number of tough plays at second base.
Evans also made several big catches in the outfield.
"It was a scrappy game," Trivitt said. "It went back and forth for a while and we were able to pull that one out."
Cauley started the game on the mound, before giving way to Johnson. Simms closed out the game in long relief to seal the win.
