With one week of preseason tournaments that many coaches treat more like scrimmages under our belt, I'm going to take my best stab at predictions for the spring sports season. As always, we'll revisit these after the year, at which time you can all point and laugh.
Baseball
MY PICKS
Playoff teams: High Desert: 1. Spanish Springs; 2. Reno; 3. McQueen; 4. Wooster. Sierra: 1. Galena; 2. Douglas; 3. Damonte Ranch; 4. Manogue
Regional Champion: Reno.
Surprise team: Elko.
My thoughts: Don't let Reno's late-inning win over Spanish Springs Saturday fool you, I see the Cougars being very tough to beat this year. I see this especially being the case in a three-game series, which is why they get the nod in the High Desert race. However, Reno has a lot of experienced players back from its regional runner-up squad from last season. I see their tournament experience ultimately being the difference, especially in this year's new straight-up double-elimination bracket (built after softball's model of the past several years).
It's tough to call a definite surprise this team as all of the regular powerhouse programs should live up to their billing. I see that Elko picked up a couple nice wins over the weekend, so I just slid them in, because really, who is going to be that surprised if a Manogue, Galena, Damonte or Douglas steps up and wins the Sierra? Same can be said of Reno, McQueen and Spanish Springs. What would be a real surprise is if Wooster steps up with a big year.
The Sierra is a complete toss-up, and my bet will be the league champion finishes with at least three losses, maybe more. Carson appears to be in for a bit of a down year, but you just never know with them. Coach Cody Farnworth can certainly get the team playing its best ball by the time the playoffs roll around. With regionals being played at Douglas and Carson, it'll be very interesting to see what the two home teams can do.
Softball
MY PICKS
Playoff teams: High Desert: 1. Reed; 2. Spanish Springs; 3. Reno 4. Elko. Sierra: 1. Douglas; 2. Manogue; 3. Damonte Ranch; 4. Carson
Regional Champion: Reed.
Surprise team: Carson.
My thoughts (at the time): The regional race appears to be between Reed and Spanish Springs early on. After that, it's anybody's guess. Douglas has the deepest roster in the Sierra League, but Manogue has probably the best pitcher in Megan Dortch. Carson has a lot of talented younger players that could propel the Senators anywhere between first and fourth in the league while Fallon and Galena should certainly be fighting for playoff spots.
Here's the top positive to take out of a tough situation last week:
Take the scores of the Douglas baseball team's first four games last week and something immediately comes to the surface: 12-7 loss to Spanish Springs. 13-12 loss to McQueen. 17-0 win over Reed. 21-1 win over Lowry.
The 2010 Tigers can swing it. 36 runs in three games against three
legitimate High Desert League playoff contenders. Not bad. 57 runs in four games? It's been a while since a Tiger team (or any Northern 4A team for that matter) got off to such a strong start offensively.
They also showed they've got a formidable starting pitching rotation in Kameron VanWinkle, Beau Battista and Matt Thomas.
The sour spot on the week was a flurry of errors and defensive lapses that essentially cost the Tigers two games (six unearned runs against Spanish Springs, a 10-run bottom of the seventh against McQueen).
The good news is that of the three main facets of baseball (hitting, defense
and pitching) the Tigers appear to have two pretty well settled. And defense
is the one area you can fix over the course of a season.
You either have the pitching or you don't - you don't just suddenly get better. The Tigers appear to have the talent in the starting rotation to get there. Look for the young bullpen to improve as they get more varsity experience too.
Offenses tend to get better as the season goes on, so for an unproven lineup to produce that many runs in such a short span, that's another positive sign. Hitting can also dry up just as quick, though, so Douglas is going to have to work to keep itself in a rhythm at the plate.
I'm planning to be at these games this week, so check online for updates
(Cover It Live is the tool we use to post automatic updates during games and
also allows for comments and questions from fans during the game, so be sure
to check out our Web site if you can?t make it to the games I will be
posting from.):
Thursday: Softball vs. Carson (Cover It Live)
Saturday: Baseball vs. Carson (Cover It Live)
- In one hour of watching the ACC Conference semifinals Saturday, the ESPN
broadcast team mentioned coaches' suit jackets no less than 15 times. Someone had to have lost a bet, that's my only thought.
- Apparently, 2 and a half is when kids become allergic to clothes. I can't turn around anymore without saying "Hey, where'd your clothes go?"
