R-C Sports Notebook: Halfway home

It's that weird spot during the spring season when Douglas High is just coming off its spring break and Washoe County is just heading into theirs.

Most everyone heads for elsewhere, which leaves little to write about, in terms of games, here.

It also marks the unofficial halfway mark of the season and at this point, teams either have a pretty good idea of where they are going to end up, or at least what they need to do in order to get to where they want to be.

Baseball and softball both have tough roads ahead with Manogue, South Tahoe and Carson in the next three weeks.

Of those, only Manogue will play the majority of the series in Minden.

You're looking at the very real possibility for both sports that the winners season-ending Douglas-Carson series will also win the Sierra League title.

In baseball, the top two seeds in each league will get home playoff games in the first round, so these next three weeks will be even more important. After that, the tournaments will move to Wooster and Reno.

I'll just throw this out there, but should there be one site from each league involved? Granted, when the brackets were worked out, Wooster was still a member of the Sierra League. But, as it stands, there is a slight possibility of two High Desert League schools having home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The championship will be at Reno High on May 16.

The entirety of the softball tournament will be at Manogue.

The Douglas swim team is off until May, but the Tigers have a number of top contenders as regionals approach. Defending state diving champion Eddie Kollar looks as though he is well on track to repeat and Haley Von Schottenstein is carrying the fourth-best time in the region in the 50 free at 26.19.

The track & field team will pick things back up this week with the Carson Invitational on Saturday. The Tigers have a number of strong runners, jumpers and throwers and, given the right breaks, the girls' team has the depth and talent to pull off a team win at regionals. It won't hurt that regionals will be at the Big George Sports Complex this year, either. Expect a number of stadium records to fall on that day.

The boys' golf team has clawed its way into contention for a team berth to regionals, which is extremely impressive considering this is really a rebuilding year.

Thomas Wicker again leads the Sierra League standings and should be considered a favorite heading into regionals.

As you might have noticed, I haven't put the notebook up in a couple weeks. This was largely due to spending extra time figuring out how to work our new print format. I seem to have found my way back into a normal routine, though, so I'll start the weekly column back up.

- Just to give you an idea of how very good the Douglas-Reno series has been over the past five years: The Tigers lead the series 9-8 since 2005, having won the season series three times. Only once during that stretch has one team swept the season series from the other (2005, Douglas won all three games). Douglas holds the total runs scored advantage during this stretch 124 to 117, but seven of the 17 games played between the two teams in the last five years have been decided by two runs or less. Three of those have been decided by one run.

- Subtle stat of the week that may say a ton about how the season plays out: Douglas used four pitchers in three games against Reno. Reno used nine. The only arm of note Douglas didn't get to see was that of Reno ace Tom Jameson.

- I really, really like the Douglas softball team's new grey uniforms. It's a hybrid of the streamlined modern look with a bit of a throwback to the old state championship 1992 uniforms.

- Fallon baseball tops Manogue 7-6. Manogue, remember was the No. 2 team in Northern Nevada coming into the series. Fallon was winless in 10 Sierra League games. Fallon wasn't a bad team when they were in Minden to open the league season a couple weeks ago. Don't be shocked to see them pick up a couple more big wins before the year is out.

- South Tahoe baseball tops Galena 13-12. I've talked about South Tahoe in this slot twice already this year, but this was a big win for the Vikings. Consider that Galena led 11-0 at one point, and it becomes even more impressive. I'll say it again, the Vikings are going to be exceptionally dangerous at their home field this year " bad news, consider Douglas has a three game set there at in the second-to-last week of the year.

- Wooster baseball wins series against Reed. Just putting a punctuation mark on the disparity between the High Desert and the Sierra leagues this year, Wooster vaulted itself into the playoff picture with a pair of wins over the Raiders last week. If the Colts had remained in the Sierra this year, they would be simply looking to steal a win here or there from one of the top five.

- Carson softball beats McQueen 3-2. I hear the No. 5-ranked Lancers had some miscues in the game, but this is a big win for the Senators. McQueen, in my mind, was probably the fourth-best team in the area coming into the game, but Carson showed that it may be looking for some early round upsets in the playoffs.

- Not so much: Douglas baseball takes series from Reno. I knew two things heading into last week's series. No one was going to walk away with a sweep and there was going to be at least one barn-burner of a baseball game out of the three. It turned out to be game one, which Reno won 7-6 in eight innings, but the entire series was marked with some great play on both sides. The performances of Douglas' pitchers (Tyler May, Tyler Hoelzen and Michael Whalin) can't be overstated. Each one threw an absolute gem in his own right. Having three starters who can throw in big-game situations is a luxury I haven't seen anyone else in the Northern 4A exhibit this year.

If I had a vote for overall player of the year in the Northern 4A Regional baseball and softball honors ballots (and I don't), this is what it would look like, based mostly on their respective performances over the last week:

Baseball

1. Tyler Hoelzen, Douglas; 2. Tyler May, Douglas; 3. Tom Jameson, Reno; 4. Cody Stevens, Damonte Ranch; 5. Casey Yocum, Reed.

Softball

1. Ashley Collier, Spanish Springs; 2. Chelsea Cohen, Reed; 3. Stephanie Harper, Douglas; 4. Megan Dortch, Manogue; 5. Samantha Puzey, Reno.

The top athletes, regardless of sport, at Douglas High determined by production during competition, overall value to their team, ability to perform with consistency in routine situations, performance compared to others at the same position throughout the state/region, ability to come up big in clutch situations, versatility, attitude, sportsmanship, overall athletic ability, heart, potential at the next level, and a host of other intangibles (emotional leadership, role-playing value, work ethic, etc.) This is all, of course, just my opinion.

Spring Sports

1. Thomas Wicker, golf

2. Stephanie Harper, softball

3. Tyler Hoelzen, baseball

4. Tyler May, baseball

5. Tim Rudnick, baseball

6. Jessica Waggoner, track & field

7. Katrina Morgan, softball

8. Katie Dry, track & field

9. Emily Weaver, softball

10. Kameron VanWinkle, baseball

Watch list: Jessica Gorton, track & field; Eddie Kollar (diving); Morgan Blomstrom (softball); Mia Townsell (softball), Troy Torres (baseball), Tanner Thomas (baseball)

2008-09 School Year

1. Jessica Waggoner, volleyball/basketball/track & field

2. Tim Rudnick, football/basketball/baseball

3. Eddie Kollar, cross country/wrestling/diving

4. Nico Barker, football/wrestling

5. Parker Robertson, football/basketball

6. Katie Dry, soccer/basketball/track & field

7. Dany Heidt, soccer/basketball

8. Ally Freitas, soccer/basketball

9. James McLaughlin, basketball/football

10. Tyler Hoelzen, basketball/baseball

Since I've been here (2003)

1. Luke Rippee, football/basketball/baseball (2003)

2. Jessica Waggoner, volleyball/basketball/track (2005-present)

3. Brittany Puzey, basketball/softball (2003-04)

4. Tim Rudnick, football/basketball/baseball (2006-present)

5. Bridget Maestretti, volleyball/basketball/softball/track (2004-08)

6. Tyson Estes, football/basketball/baseball (2003-05)

7. Ryan Pruitt, football/wrestling/baseball (2005-07)

8. Mike Gransbery, soccer/basketball (2004-07)

9. James McLaughlin, football/basketball (2006-present)

10. Andy McIntosh, football/basketball/track/golf (2003)

- I'm quickly learning that those "Learn to Eat" bowls with the suction cup bottoms to keep the dish stuck to the table are specifically designed to explosively release at the peak point of strain. Unfortunately, my daughter has caught on to this much quicker than I have.

- A couple weeks back, the Minnesota Timberwolves host Sam Mitchell Appreciation Night, where they handed out poster paintings of Mitchell wearing the old "Wolves" uniform. The only problem with that was "Wolves" was spelled "Woves" on the jersey. The irony? It was also "Reading to Succeed" night at the arena.