SUNRISE REGION: Fedde, Wildcats breeze past Skyhawks
Las Vegas starting pitcher Erick Fedde stood against a wall and repeatedly tossed a 2-pound ball backward against it, eventually coming up winded from his post-start recovery routine.
That was about as hard as the junior worked all day Tuesday, breezing through a complete-game gem to shut down Silverado and help the Wildcats advance in the Sunrise Region tournament with a 7-1 home victory.
Las Vegas (23-8) faces Southeast League champion Green Valley at the Gators’ home field Wednesday at 1 p.m. The Skyhawks (20-10) face Chaparral in an elimination game at Las Vegas at 1 p.m.
Las Vegas took control early, grabbing a 4-0 lead after three innings, and Fedde bolted the door shut. Using a tight slider away and a hard fastball in, the lanky right-hander kept the Skyhawks off balance throughout the game.
Fedde allowed only one run on five hits in seven innings, striking out six and walking one.
“I felt good because I could throw all my pitches for strikes,” Fedde said. “I kept on hitting my spots. Coach called a great game for me.”
Las Vegas coach Sam Thomas gave high praise to Fedde, who didn’t allow a runner past second base until the sixth inning and surrendered the shutout in the final inning when Silverado catcher A.J. Ford led off with a home run to right field.
“I thought he did a tremendous job,” Thomas said. “He hit his spots, mixed his pitches very well. He competed. (Silverado’s) a very good hitting team.”
The Wildcats didn’t hit Silverado left-hander Jeremy Morski particularly hard, but the Wildcats took advantage of a handful of
Skyhawks’ miscues. A throwing error by third baseman Chris Velgos allowed the Wildcats to score two runs in the second inning and a passed ball by Ford set up a two-run single by Las Vegas’ Dillon Dove in the third inning.
“We were fortunate and took advantage of a couple of errors that they made,” Thomas said.
Rancho 12, Coronado 11 — At Rancho, the Rams (27-3) rallied from an 8-2 deficit to beat the Cougars (15-8-2) in eight innings.
Rancho scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to win the game. The tying run came home on an infield single by Brandon Pletsch.
After Coronado walked two to load the bases, Gabe Chavira hit a long fly ball to right center for a single to bring home the winning run.
Coronado had taken an 11-10 lead in the top of the eighth on an RBI double by Steven Pollex, who was 3-for-5 with three doubles and five RBIs.
The Cougars led 10-6, but Rancho rallied for two runs in the sixth and two in the seventh, tying the game on a two-out double by Michael Cruz.
Taylor Giordano was 3-for-5 with three runs for Coronado.
Foothill 13, Valley 2 — At Foothill, Jordan Stewart homered twice and drove in four runs, and Kris Soto went 3-for-4 with a home run, two doubles and five RBIs as the Falcons beat the Vikings in six innings.
Dylan Ellis went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs for Foothill (24-5).
Mitchell Diesko homered for Valley (14-14).
Green Valley 18, Chaparral 1 — At Green Valley, Bobby Shiroky threw a two-hitter with seven strikeouts to help the Gators (27-5) dominate the Cowboys (14-13) in five innings.
Gabe Douglas had two hits, including a home run, to lead the Green Valley offense.
Chad Whiteaker, Brett Harrison, Scott Arn and Casey Hicks each added two hits for the Gators, who had 11 players account for 17 hits.