58°F
weather icon Mostly Cloudy

Little League has hit the park with nearly 320 players

The grass hasn’t greened up at Ian Deutch but Little Leaguers are out in force, some 320 of them, all preparing for a March 18 opening day.

“We have lower numbers than expected at the T-ballers,” he said. “And who knows what the reason is for that. It could be the economy or whatever.”

Regardless of the numbers, Little League president Banuelos is excited to start the new season.

“We grew in numbers this year,” Banuelos said. “Right now we have a nice wave of kids that started as 10-year-olds making noise and are now 12.”

When Banuelos said “making noise” he is referring to how well the kids have been doing compared to Las Vegas kids.

This is the measure that Pahrump holds its kids to and has been for years. After all, it’s the city that has produced a few major leaguers like Bryce Harper and Joey Gallo.

In regard to Las Vegas, Pahrump has tried to keep up with “Joneses” so to speak.

“We have a fall league going now with three teams,” he said. “But we have problems doing anything more than that because of field space. Fall league plays at the same time as AYSO soccer is playing and there is no room to play baseball and soccer at Ian Deutch park so we have to hold it at Simkins Park.”

He said games are limited at Simkins because there are no lights.

“We, of course, get good cooperation from the county on the parks,” Banuelos said. “They do everything they can to accommodate us.”

Banuelos is hoping though that the county finishes the new county parks so they can expand Little League and go year-round.

This something Las Vegas has in play already and has had year-round baseball for years.

Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
Trojans home run isn’t enough for win

A home run from Madison Rodriguez (6) wasn’t enough for the Pahrump Valley softball team to beat the Sports Leadership & Management (SLAM) Bulls in a conference game on Wednesday.

SOFTBALL: Trojans top Moapa, fall to Needles

The Trojans softball team suffered their first loss this season against a school from a neighboring state on Monday, but it also added a win in a weekend game against Moapa Valley (2-1) at home.

Muckers baseball off to 1-3 start this season

By the end of the weekend, the Tonopah Muckers had played four games, where they scored over 17 runs.

Muckers start softball season 1-3

Tonopah softball started their season over the weekend with four games on Friday and Saturday.

RODEO 2024: Here are the winners

The Nevada State High School Rodeo was in Pahrump last weekend where junior and senior high school students from around the state came to compete after their winter break.

Trojans girls basketball moves on to the quarterfinals

After Avery Moore stole a pass from the Sports Leadership and Management (SLAM) girls basketball team she passed the ball to Paris Coleman who ran up and scored the team’s fourth two-pointer in less than two minutes.

Pastor opens boxing gym for Pahrump youth

Pastor Ruben Bajo, of Full Armor of God Ministries in Pahrump told the Pahrump Valley Times that decades ago the sport of boxing saved his life and kept him off the streets of Los Angeles.

Trojans struggle in nail-biting 4th quarter against Chaparral

It was all up to No. 14 Daxton Palmisano from the Pahrump Valley boys basketball team with less than 10 seconds on the clock to score a three-pointer to get the Trojans into overtime in a hard-fought game on Wednesday.