Middleton proud of squad, Trojans shy of state in late-inning regional thriller — PHOTOS
Pahrump Valley High School varsity baseball head coach Drew Middleton stood on the top step of the dugout, endlessly gnawing at the edge of his laminated pick-system sheet as the winning run stood just 90 feet away.
Against a Virgin Valley squad they had swept during the regular season, the Trojans once again dragged the Bulldogs deep into extra innings.
This time, however, Virgin Valley escaped under uncanny circumstances with a 4-3 victory in a win-or-go-home elimination game during the Class 3A Southern Regionals on May 8 in Boulder City.
Uphill battle
The bottom of the ninth inning appeared to set the stage for just one more dramatic finish up their sleeve.
Trojans senior Vinny Whitney ripped a leadoff double into the gap with no outs, igniting the dugout into a frenzy. Moments later, senior Leland Delgado stepped into the batter’s box with one clear assignment: move the runner over to third.
Delgado executed perfectly, dropping a beautifully timed sacrifice bunt that pushed Whitney to third base with only one out.
Earlier in the game, Delgado had already delivered in a crucial moment. Entering as a pinch runner for Jack Walker in the seventh inning, Delgado raced home wildly on a passed ball in the bottom of the seventh inning to score the tying run and keep the Trojans’ season alive.
But the opportunity remained frozen in place in the bottom of the ninth.
Back-to-back infield ground outs stranded Whitney at third and allowed the Bulldogs’ Cinderella run to continue.
After Pahrump Valley retired Virgin Valley in order during the top of the 10th inning, the Trojans threatened again.
Junior Tony Whitney, the team’s batting-average leader for the year, led off with a sharp grounder to third and beat the throw to first for an infield single.
Sophomore Anthony Montanez followed the script once more, laying down a bunt that advanced Whitney while reaching base safely himself.
This time, the winning run sat once again just two bases away.
Then came yet another crushing turn.
A screaming line drive off the bat of sophomore CJ Nelson was snagged by Bulldogs left fielder Brooks Perkins, who quickly fired to second base for a momentum-shifting double play that doubled off Whitney.
“We had guys on second or third in the eighth, ninth, and 10th. We just couldn’t get the game-winning hit,” Trojans head coach Drew Middleton said. “We put ourselves in position, we just couldn’t find a home when it mattered most.”
Tired but relentless
Senior Dominik Wilson kept the bottom of the 10th inning alive with a sharp single past starter Uriah Pereida, who later moved to third base, advancing Montanez to second in scoring position with two outs.
Once more, the rally stalled as Kayne Horibe popped out to shortstop Koby Perry to end the inning.
Horibe immediately found his redemption in the top of the 11th inning.
The centerfielder laid out for an ESPN-worthy full-extension diving catch before springing to his feet and firing a strike to Nelson at first base to complete an electrifying double play.
In the top half of the 12th, Virgin Valley finally broke through the floodgates.
With one out, Perkins lined a single into center field. Moments later, Tray Hughes launched a missile to deep center.
Horibe tracked it down as quickly as possible and fired the relay toward first baseman CJ Nelson, who turned and delivered a throw home to catcher Ben Cimperman.
For a moment, time nearly stood still.
Perkins sprinted toward the plate as Cimperman fielded the one-hop throw, but the senior could not secure possession of the tag as Perkins slid into home, safe only by the bobble on the transfer.
Pahrump Valley could not answer in the bottom half of the inning as Degan Shaner shut the door for good.
Shaner matched Whitney nearly pitch for pitch, finishing with 4.2 scoreless innings while allowing three hits, one walk, and striking out two.
Senior Vinny Whitney was tasked with an enormous job in relief after junior Cody Fried delivered 6.1 gritty innings to open the three-hour, 36-minute marathon.
Fried allowed three runs — only one earned — while striking out five across 97 pitches.
Whitney came fresh off the field and answered with a performance fueled purely by grit.
He simply refused to let the season end.
Over 5.2 innings on the mound, Whitney held Virgin Valley scoreless for four consecutive innings.
It nearly became five and a Trojans victory with Delgado later scoring on the passed ball, if not for a controversial balk call that allowed the go-ahead run to score.
But baseball can be cruel.
“I don’t point fingers at officiating but this was an outrageous call. Especially given the situation. It wasn’t close to a balk. But umpire calls a balk, brings home a run,” Middleton said. “Gets an out on the next pitch to get out of it. So what should have been a 2-2 tie still is now 3-2 due to a terrible call.”
Virgin Valley struck first in the top of the third inning, using a sacrifice fly and an RBI single up the middle to build an early 2-0 lead.
Wilson and Nelson provided a one-two punch in the lineup, each driving in a run for the Trojans.
Nelson led Pahrump Valley at the plate, finishing 3-for-6, while Whitney added two hits in five at-bats.
Defensively, the Trojans turned three double plays throughout the game.
Both teams finished with eight hits apiece while the Bulldogs used three pitchers in comparison to Pahrump Valley’s two.
“Credit to Virgin’s starter Uriah Pereida. He did a good job mixing it up, keeping us off-balance. He blanked us for the first five innings,” Middleton said. “We finally were able to grind together some quality at-bats to tie the game at two and chase Pereida out of the game.”
The Meadows
Despite out-hitting the Mustangs nine to five, Pahrump Valley found themselves fighting against one run for three innings in their 4-3 loss to the Meadows on Thursday, May 7.
The Trojans struck for two runs in the top of the first inning as Nelson drove in the opening run on a ground out before Horibe followed with an RBI single down the left-field line to go up 2-0.
Pahrump Valley added another run in the second inning after a Meadows error extended the lead out to 3-0.
The Mustangs finally answered the Trojans starter, Sammy Mendoza, in the bottom of the fourth inning with the game-changing rally.
The Meadows’ junior Aiden Brown sparked the comeback with an RBI double before Mox Hoy launched a three-run homer to left field, giving The Meadows a 4-3 lead all with two outs that they would not surrender.
Mendoza turned in a solid outing on the mound for the Trojans, allowing five hits and four runs across six innings while striking out five and walking three.
Freshman Lucas Salas started for The Meadows and allowed three runs — two earned — on five hits over three innings, striking out two and walking two.
Pahrump Valley finished with nine hits in the loss, with Montanez, Fried, Cimperman, Dominic Chiancone, Wilson, Horibe, V. Whitney, CJ Nelson, and T. Whitney each recording a hit.
Nelson and Horibe each drove in a run for the Trojans, while Nelson finished as one of the team’s offensive leaders at the plate during the tournament.
Defensively, the boys played a clean game without committing an error.
Cimperman led the effort with five defensive plays behind the plate, while the Trojans also turned in a fundamentally sharp performance in the field.
Hoy delivered the decisive blow with a three-run homer and finished with two RBI’s.
Ethan Schneiderman, Rocco Ricafort, Max Tribett, Hoy, and Brown each collected a hit as the Mustangs turned two double plays in the contest.
“I am proud of the strides we made as a team this year. By year’s end, our pitching and defense was phenomenal, as we could go toe to toe with just about anyone. You could see our pick game come alive and you saw the effects that has on teams and how they ran the bases against us,” Middleton said. “Our situational baseball got stronger as the year went. Base running got stronger, outfielders knowing where to go with the baseball and when to backpick guys got stronger. The last three weeks we played really strong baseball. The growth of this team should make everyone a part of this very excited for the future.”
Contact Jacob Powers at jpowers@pvtimes.com.
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