High school baseball teams hope for return to normalcy

Three years ago, the Desert Oasis baseball team dogpiled on the infield at Las Vegas Ballpark after winning its first state championship.

Scenes like that have been few and far between since then, as Nevada hasn’t crowned a state champion in its highest classification. The 2020 season was mostly wiped out because of COVID, and the 2021 season was shortened and only regional champions were crowned.

The Diamondbacks and everyone else hope to get back to a normalcy this season, but they know they’re not fully there yet because the Clark County School District is still requiring weekly COVID testing.

Desert Oasis was shut down for 10 days twice last season because of COVID, so it’s still a concern entering the season, which begins Thursday.

“It’s still in the back of my head. We had to test on Monday,” Desert Oasis coach Paul Buboltz said. “If we get struck by it again, it will still affect us, but I don’t think it will as much as last season. But until they take the testing away, we’ll kind of take a deep breath each week.”

Bishop Gorman won the Southern Region championship last spring, the first year of Class 5A competition.

The Gaels return plenty of talent to make another run, led by outfielder Justin Crawford (Louisiana State signee), utility man Dimitri Diamant (Georgia Tech) and pitcher Tyler Avery (UNLV).

“The kids are excited to have a full season, and they’re working hard,” Gorman coach Gino DiMaria said. “They know everybody is gunning for them, and we lost some key kids, but we have others stepping up.”

Some of the top teams in 5A and 4A will get a good look at one another to start the season at the Austin Chong Memorial Kickoff tournament.

Desert Oasis, Centennial, Basic and Gorman will host team pools. Other valley teams playing are Green Valley, Silverado, Liberty, Bonanza, Arbor View, Coronado, Cimarron-Memorial, defending 4A champion Sierra Vista, Palo Verde, Rancho and Shadow Ridge.

The tournament will require pitching depth to be successful and help teams get ready for the grind of league play. Sierra Vista coach Thomas Maxwell is eager to see how his team responds after losing his entire pitching staff.

“We have some juniors who have stepped up on the mound,” he said. “We’re feeling good about our team. For the first couple years, we had to really rebuild. Now we’re more in the reloading phase.”

Palo Verde coach Joe Hallead is coming off a memorable season. His young team overachieved to win a league title and reach the 5A Southern Region championship game before losing to Gorman.

Hallead said he was susceptible to COVID and stuck in his apartment for a year. He missed being around his players the most but also the camaraderie among coaches.

As Hallead pointed out, many of the valley’s coaches have been around for a long time and are on the downside of their careers. They want to enjoy every moment they have left on the field.

“I know from coaching meetings we’re all happy to be out there,” Hallead said. “Everybody thinks coaches are all against each other. But we’re really a community of guys who just love baseball.”

Contact Jason Orts at jorts@reviewjournal.com. Follow @SportsWithOrts on Twitter.