Pahrump Valley baseball and softball players named to all-league teams

The baseball and softball seasons have been finished for over a month now, but that’s not stopping the Pahrump Valley teams from getting awards.

The all-league and all-region teams came out early this week and both of them were littered with Trojan players.

The all-league and all-southern region teams were voted on by the coaches in each division.

Pahrump Valley’s baseball team, led by head coach Roy Uyeno, had five different players named to the 3A Mountain league first-team and seven players named to the second team.

Junior Kyle McDaniel received two honors for the first team. He was voted in as an infielder and also as a pitcher.

McDaniel played 30 games for the Trojans this past season. He led the team in many offensive and pitching categories.

In his 30 games, McDaniel had 51 hits, 50 runs, 41 runs batted in and four home runs. All of these led or were tied for the lead on the team. He also had three wins, 52 strikeouts and pitched 31 ⅔ innings in nine appearances on the mound for the Trojans.

In addition to being named in two spots for the all-league team, McDaniel was also voted as the Player of the Year for the 3A Mountain league.

“Obviously it felt pretty good,” McDaniel said of getting his accolades. “Before the season, those were my goals.”

“I think it shows our team is the best in 3A. I feel like we build our players the best here (in Pahrump Valley) and for the younger people, it shows them that they can also be on the team.”

The other players that were named to the all-league first team are Dallton Norland for first baseman, Coby Tillery for catcher and Zach Cueller and James Metscher for outfield positions.

On the second team, Cuellar and Scott Hirschi were both selected as pitchers. Fidel Betancourt, Dustin Lopez and Hirschi were all selected for infielder positions.

Senior Henry Amaya was selected for both the utility position and an outfielder position on the second team.

Cuellar, McDaniel and Metscher were the only Trojans selected to the All-Southern region team. Cuellar and Metscher were selected for outfielder positions, while McDaniel received his selection for the shortstop position.

“Feels great to know that their hard work in practice and conditioning paid off,” Uyeno said. “Kyle is Kyle, what else can you say about this young man? Blessed to coach Kyle and his older brother, Chase.”

On the softball side, head coach Sam Charles had four players named to the 3A Mountain all-league team.

Seniors DeeAnna “DeeDee” Egan, Toni Cross-Smith and Ciara Stragand, along with junior Ava Charles, were all named to the Mountain league first team.

Stragand was awarded her spot for one of the three pitching positions. Egan was awarded the catcher position on the first team, while Cross-Smith got one of the outfielder positions.

Charles, who spent half her time pitching and the other half playing first base, got her honor for the first base position. She could have also been named to one of the pitcher positions for her work on the mound this season, but glad to see that she received at least one honor.

The softball team is off for the next few months before they start preparing for their spring season later this year. However, the baseball team has been chugging on.

They have already played four games earlier this summer and have eight more games this upcoming weekend, including four games against Faith Lutheran High School in Las Vegas.

The first set of games will be a doubleheader Friday night beginning at 5 p.m. at Faith Lutheran’s field. The Trojans will also play a doubleheader Saturday night against the Crusaders.

Then on Sunday, the Trojans will play four games, a doubleheader against Durango High School and a doubleheader against Sierra Vista.

Contact Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com and follow @the_dannysmyth on Twitter.