Pahrump Valley got their revenge Friday afternoon when they knocked off the defending 3A Southern regional champion Virgin Valley Bulldogs 11-0 in the southern regional championship.
Both teams had already locked in their spot in the 3A Nevada state baseball tournament this weekend, but they still wanted bragging rights in the south for the next year.
“I’m excited, this is awesome,” head coach Roy Uyeno said following the win. “These kids worked hard for me all year, they deserve this. The boys wanted it, so we went and got it.”
The Bulldogs defeated the Trojans 9-8 in nine innings during the 2022 southern regional tournament.
Pahrump led 7-2 going into the sixth inning of that game, but the Bulldogs were able to climb their way back into the game and ultimately win in extra innings.
Friday’s game was a complete domination by the Trojans from the start.
The Trojans jumped out to a 3-0 lead by the end of the first inning.
Senior Matt Arrey got one of his two hits on the day when he hit a two-run double to center field, scoring Scott Hirschi and Dustin Lopez.
Hirschi got the start on the mound for Pahrump. He didn’t realize he would be pitching until the team took the field for pregame warmups.
“I actually didn’t know,” Hirschi said about getting the start. “I thought Matt [Arrey] was starting. I got here, ready to play second base. I got told I was pitching, so I was just trying to keep my nerves calm. I was just trying to be relaxed and get strikes.”
Hirshi was taking big, deep breaths between pitches and batters to remain calm. Boy, did it work.
He pitched a five-inning complete game, giving up just four hits while striking out seven Bulldog batters.
Despite seven total Virgin Valley players reaching base safely, only one advanced past second base, which didn’t happen until the fifth and final inning.
The Trojans did most of their damage in the bottom of the fourth inning, where they scored five runs.
After a lead-off double by Kyle McDaniel, Lopez brought him in with a triple to deep center field. He would later come in to score on a wild pitch by Cameron Wright of Virgin Valley.
Eight Pahrump batters reached base safely in the inning with five base runners coming via hit and the other three got on base after walks.
This was the second shutout win over the Bulldogs for Pahrump this season after winning the regular season matchup 4-0.
“We gotta keep on doing what we did today,” Uyeno said in preparation for the state tournament. “Hit the ball, play defense. That’s the name of this game.”
As I mentioned, both of these teams had secured a spot in the state tournament before the game. This was for crowning the southern regional champion and to decide the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds from the south in the state tournament.
With their win, Pahrump received the No. 1 south seed and will play Churchill County, the No. 2 north seed this Thursday at Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite.
Churchill County went 18-5 in the regular season and they’re averaging 9.7 runs per game this season.
After winning their first three games in the northern regional tournament, they lost back-to-back games to the regional champion South Tahoe Vikings.
With their loss, Virgin Valley is going into the state tournament as the No. 2 south seed and will play South Tahoe, the No. 1 north seed.
South Tahoe went 21-4 in the regular season this year. They have won 21 of their last 22 games including the regional playoff tournament.
Pahrump’s game against Churchill County will begin at 1 p.m. and Virgin Valley’s game against South Tahoe will begin at 3:30 p.m.
The winners will play each other on Friday at 3:30 p.m. for a spot in Saturday’s state championship game. The losers of Thursday’s games will head to the losers’ bracket where they’ll have to fight their way to the state championship game.
You can follow along with the tournament bracket by visiting NIAA.com.
Contact sports writer/editor Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com. Follow @_dannysmyth on Twitter.