Prepare yourself for a jam-packed two weeks of postseason competition.
This weekend marks the end of the regular season for high school sports and there’s still much at stake for both Fallon and Oasis Academy.
The Greenwave baseball team leads the Northern 3A with one series remaining, a three-game set at Dayton starting on Friday, and will clinch the league title with a pair of wins.
The Greenwave baseball squad sits one game ahead of Elko, which faces Fernley this weekend. Avoiding the difficult math, Fallon needs to win the series against Dayton, which is fighting for one of the final playoff spots between Fernley, Spring Creek and Lowry. Who has more motivation?
Fallon will not finish any lower than second, assuring itself with the crucial first-round bye in next week’s regional tournament in Fallon. Fallon will need to win two tournament games in a row to advance to the state tournament.
The Lady Wave softball team fell out of contention for one of the two top seeds after losing a home series to Lowry last week. Instead of riding into Dayton this weekend in second place, Fallon is barely hanging on to third place and Dayton, sits one game behind the Lady Wave.
Fallon will finish no lower than fourth place and no higher than second. Lowry hosts Truckee this weekend and the Wolverines are the worst team in the league. Fallon will need to win the Dayton series to finish third. What’s at stake between finishing third or fourth? A lot.
The winner of the fourth-fifth place game in next week’s regional tournament faces Fernley while the other winner would take on Lowry. Fernley swept Fallon and Lowry took two of three but the postseason is a different chapter of the season. Just ask both Fallon and Fernley why the regular-season title means nothing.
On the track, Fallon’s boys team is not disappointing with the quartet of seniors Broder Thurston and Drake Copley, and juniors Reid Clyburn and Colton Peterson. Not only have they been dominating the Northern 3A in the 4x100 and 4x200 relays, these four are also the best in the entire region. Let that sink in. They’ve broken the school records again this year but none of it matters unless they’re the last team climbing to the podium in the state meet May 18-19.
For the Lady Wave, several jumpers and pole vaulters are the team’s best chance at competing for the regional team title with Brynlee Shults, Aisha Sharron, and Sierra and Shelby Hickox leading the jumping crew and Allie Lister and Glenda Lee making noise in the pole vault. Kyndal Collins is one of the fastest sprinters in the region.
Christian Nemeth leads the swimming team, which has qualified nearly all its swimmers for the regional meet next week, while the boys golf team has its sights on seniors Kelvin Cann and Chance Wood placing among the best at the state tournament.
And don’t forget about Oasis Academy.
The Lady Bighorns lacrosse team sits in first place with only two games remaining. With the majority of the team being underclassmen, this team has not backed down from the bigger schools as Oasis has lost only once (Galena). Oasis finishes the regular season next Friday at home against Spanish Springs before the regional tournament in two weeks. Only the regional winner goes to state.
Although the postseason doesn’t begin for another week, this weekend will have that playoff atmosphere on the diamond in Dayton. Both Fallon and Oasis have performed well this spring and fans should be excited how this chapter of Lahontan Valley athletics ends this month.
Thomas Ranson can be contacted at lvnsports@yahoo.com.
