R-C Sports Notebook: Tiger track on the map

The Douglas High girls' track team has very quietly worked its way right into the thick of the regional title chase.

After the Lady Tigers won their first two meets at home, they came out and made a huge statement Saturday, winning the 21-team Fallon Invitational.

The only teams Douglas hasn't seen yet this year are Reno and Manogue.

Reno will enter the regional championships as the likely favorite but Douglas has depth in every event and could be the darkhorse at the end of the year.

It'll be interesting to see how the next few weeks play out. We'll surely know more after this weekend's Reed Rotary Invitational.

As though being the only event in the region the weekend of April 29 wasn't enough of an attraction, the Big George Track & Field Invitational at Douglas High just became a little more lucrative for area teams.

Thanks to yet another donation from Big George Ventures (the same company that footed the bill for the majority of the all-weather track), Douglas won't be charging entry fees for opposing schools to compete in the meet.

"Big George fronted the money to run the meet for the next two years," Douglas coach Jim Abbott said. "We're really hoping to build this into one of the bigger meets in the area."

Abbott said he already has committments from 12 schools and is hoping to get up to more than 20.

With any luck, it could become the marquee late-season event prior to the championship meets in future years.

Combined with last week's 2-of-3 series against Damonte Ranch, what is the Tiger baseball team's all-time record against the Mustangs?

- Through three homes games this season, no one has hit a home run at Tiger Field. Through three home games last year, there had been three home runs (Phil Mannelly, Jordan Hadlock and Hug's Randy Jensen).

-Junior pitcher Tyler May has been clocking consistently in the high 80s in his last two starts, going as high as 89 against Carson. If he bumps that up just a little more and hones his changeup over the summer, expect to see the pro scouts making May's starts a regular stop on their respective loops next season. If he were a lefty, they'd already be here in droves.

- Much was made of Damonte Ranch's 14-game win streak leading up to Thursday's loss to Douglas. Some regional publications made reference to it being the longest streak since the 14-game mark Reno put together in 2001.

Somewhere, Douglas got lost in the mix of things.

The Tigers won the first 18 games of the 2003 season before losing in the championship game of the Atwater Easter Classic and then dropping three straight before bouncing back with a win over Reno. Douglas finished with a 26-8 mark that season.

The Tigers also had a streak of 13 the following season and put up 12 straight wins in 2005.

Ask any coach, though, and they'd much rather take that kind of a streak to close out the year rather than early on.

- Just as a point of reference for how athletic Douglas High's offensive line was during football season this year: Curtis Hartzell, the Tigers' all-league offensive guard, took eighth in the 100 meter dash at last weekend's Fallon Invitational.

The seven runners in front of him were primarily running backs, wide receivers and defensive backs during the football season, including McQueen's Styker Ngongseke, Hug's Tonio Burton and Reed's Tyler Olivero.

It's still very early, but if I had a vote for overall player of the year in the Northern 4A Regional baseball and softball honors ballots (and I don't), this is what it would look like this week, based mostly on their respective performances over the last week:

Baseball

1. Jordan Hadlock (Douglas); 2. Joe Wieland (Manogue); 3. Glenn Wallace (Reno); 4. CJ Maldonado (Reed); 5. Jacob Anderson (Galena)

Softball

1. Ashleigh Rahming (Reno); 2. Mallary Darby (Spanish Springs); 3. Samantha Baker (Reno); 4. Jaci Carlsen (Spanish Springs); 5. Ashley Collier (Spanish Springs)

The top athletes, regardless of sport, at Douglas High determined by production during competion, overall value to their team, ability to perform with consistency in routine situations, performance compared to others at the same position throughout the stae/region, ability to come up big in clutch situations, versatility, attitude, sportsmanship, overall athletic ability, heart, potential at the next level, and a host of other intangibles (emotional leadership, role-playing value, work ethic, etc.) This is all, of course, just my opinion.

Spring Sports (Through April 5)

1. Jordan Hadlock, catcher/pitcher, baseball

2. Jessica Gorton, hurdler/field events, track & field

3. Haley VonSchottenstein, swimming

4. Derrick Jenkins, middle distances, track & field

5. Sarah Hartley, sprinter/field events, track & field

6. Tim Rudnick, shortstop/pitcher, baseball

7. Stephanie Harper, pitcher, softball

8. Tyler May, pitcher/outfielder, baseball

9. Thomas Wicker, golf

10. Marco Hyman, swimming

2007-08 school year

1. Bridget Maestretti, volleyball/basketball/track

2. Eddie Vega, soccer/track

3. Tim Rudnick, football/basketball/baseball

4. David Laird, football/basketball

5. Jose Alcaraz, soccer/track

6. Brock Peterson, football

7. Jessica Waggoner, volleyball/basketball/track

8. Sarah Hartley, soccer/basketball/track

9. Jeff Nady, football/basketball

10. Luke Wartgow, football/track & field

Since I've been here (2003)

1. Luke Rippee, football/basketball/baseball (2003)

2. Brittany Puzey, basketball/softball (2003-04)

3. Bridget Maestretti, volleyball/basketball/softball/track (2004-08)

4. Tyson Estes, football/basketball/baseball (2003-05)

5. Ryan Pruitt, football/wrestling/baseball (2005-07)

6. Mike Gransbery, soccer/basketball (2004-07)

7. Kayla Dunn, volleyball/softball (2004-05)

8. Keith Olson, basketball (2004-07)

9. Jessica Waggoner, volleyball/basketball/track (2005-present)

10. Nate Whalin, football/basketball/baseball (2004-07)

You better believe every high school basketball coach in the country will be showing their teams the tape of the last five minutes of Monday night's NCAA Tournament Championship game to emphasize the importance of free throws.

Take away those five misses down the stretch and Memphis wins the national title.

www.stickbaseball.com

Fair warning: This is a game. A highly-addictive one.

Basically, you get to take your swings with a team of basic stick figures that look a whole lot like I did in high school (i.e., scrawny with a bad attempt at facial hair) in a variety of different challenges.

You get to create your own team, choose its uniform colors and name your own players, but it doesn't really matter because all your guys look exactly the same and play at about the same level.

After completing a series of training exercises, the site cuts you loose to play one of three different challenges (Home Run Challenge which is your basic home run derby; World Domination, where you have to beat each of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball in order from worst to best in three-inning games; and the All-Star Slug where you try to score as many runs as you can in one, three or nine innings against an all-star lineup that includes the likes of Sandy Koufax).

It's mostly about timing (you press the arrow keys corresponding to where in the strike zone you want to swing) and you don't pitch or play defense. It's pretty cheesy, but I guarantee you'll play it more than once.

7-4. Damonte began competing in varsity baseball in 2006.