Carson Valley Babe Ruth teams open state tournaments

The Carson Valley Babe Ruth 13-year-old and 14-15-year-old All-Star baseball teams open their state tournaments this week.

The 13-year-olds are hosting the eight-team, double-elimination tournament at Lampe Park through the weekend with the championship scheduled for Tuesday.

They received an automatic bid to state for hosting and will open the tournament tonight at 5:30 p.m.

The 15-year-olds clinched a state berth at the qualifier at Lampe over the weekend, advancing out of the loser's bracket. They opened the state tournament Thursday afternoon against Reno West. after The R-C's press deadline. Check www.recordcourier.com for results of that game.

Hosting the state tournament will be a boost to the Carson Valley league, coach Tim Perko said.

"It's a big deal for our league and it's a big deal for Gardnerville," Perko said.

"You've got eight teams coming from Reno, Walker River, Elko, Fallon, Carson and Sparks. That adds up to a lot of people."

While the 13-year-olds will get to play their tournament in front of a home crowd, the 14-15-year-olds will play the entirety of their tournament at McQueen High School.

Babe Ruth picks up at the age bracket where Little League generally leaves off in the area. Teams play seven-inning games around the region during the season. The All-Star teams then play through qualifers to advance to state.

"It comes down to how many teams you have in the league," Perko said. "The berths are based off of that."

Carson Valley beat South Tahoe 8-2 on Sunday to advance to state. After winning the first game of the qualifier, Carson Valley lost to South Tahoe 6-5.

Carson Valley came back to defeat Fallon and beat North Valleys in eight innings, setting up the rematch with South Tahoe.

"The team sucked it up," said Perko said. "They played tired from last night and battled back and wanted to win."

South Tahoe fell behind quickly in Sunday's game, as Carson Valley scored two runs in each of first three innings to take a commanding 6-1 lead.

Carson Valley leadoff hitter Conner Peterson got things started for his team, getting a base hit on his first at-bat then coming around to score.

In the fourth, Carson Valley's Caymen Hoshizaki made South Tahoe pay for an error, hitting a two-out triple to bring in Craig Stratton, who reached on the

fielding error.

The rest of the 14-15-year-old roster includes Garon Athanacio, who pitched a one-hitter during the qualifier, Ryan Simons, Jimmy King, Nolan Weintz, Clayton Limacher, Justin Tenney, Jason Connolly, Dusty Fisher, Chase White and Jake Connolly.

The 13-year-old roster includes Teddy Mason, Kyle Johnson, Josef Almeida, James Herrick, Taylor Souza, Austin Evans, Parker Hoshizaki, Seth Trivett, Austin Ball, Sullivan Cauley, Cole Peck, Dustin Plante, Cody Carter, Dalton Grisell and Parker Dixon.

Admission to games during the state tournament is $3 for adults and $2 for children.

Ryan Buchan of the Tahoe Daily Tribune contributed to this report.