Desert Oasis rolls to Desert Region baseball championship
Held without an extra base hit in the first game against Basic, Desert Oasis came to life when it mattered most Friday.
The host Diamondbacks hit four home runs and breezed to an 18-0, five-inning victory over Basic to win the Desert Region baseball tournament title. Desert Oasis (30-7) was the only undefeated team in the double-elimination tournament and needed the cushion after a 2-1 loss to the Wolves in the first game.
Both teams advance to next week’s Class 4A state tournament, but Desert Oasis first will face Mountain Region champion Las Vegas (27-8) in the Southern Nevada Championship at noon Saturday at Bishop Gorman.
“Now that’s our offense,” said Desert Oasis coach Paul Buboltz, whose team got home runs from Colby Smith, Aaron Roberts, Campbell Holt and D.J. Jefferson. “I’m so happy for this senior class, this is something they have worked their entire career to grab. It’s been an emoti0nal few days, and I just think we came out flat in the first game.”
Basic’s Daniel Clayton stopped the high-powered Diamondbacks offense, allowing just a Colton Zobrist RBI single in the second inning of the first game.
But the Diamondbacks jumped on freshman Colin Hushaw for three runs in the first inning of the decisive game. Smith’s two-run homer to left was the big blow.
Smith, who drove in four runs and scored four times, added an RBI single in a two-run second inning that increased the lead to 5-0.
Roberts belted a three-run homer in the third, and Holt followed with a blast to make the score 9-0.
Desert Oasis left-hander Josh Sharman held the Wolves (29-6-1) to three hits, all singles. Basic, which had to finish Thursday’s suspended game against Liberty before meeting Desert Oasis, got hits from Demetrius Vigil, Zach Hose and Dominik Tavares.
“This is a great feeling, going to state,” Buboltz said. “But we have baseball still to play this weekend.”
Mountain Region
Las Vegas coach Sam Thomas sent his players onto the field Friday hoping to win at least one game.
By the time the day was over, his Wildcats had won three. The last of the three, coming after a two-out RBI single by Oliver Haro-Reyes in the sixth inning, helped Las Vegas win the Mountain Region championship with a 3-1 victory over Arbor View at Centennial.
“We knew we had to win the first game,” said Thomas, whose team clinched a Class 4A state tournament berth with a win over Palo Verde in the completion of a suspended game. “That’s all we concentrated on. There’s no way we came in here thinking we were going to play three.”
The Wildcats defeated Palo Verde 8-3 and Arbor View 8-3 to reach the championship, in which they started senior Alejandro Barraza.
Barraza was strong, but the Aggies scored first on Jesse Pierce’s RBI triple in the fifth inning.
Starter Brennan Holligan was equally effective for Arbor View (24-11), but the Wildcats tied the score in the bottom of the fifth on Joel Lindahl’s RBI double.
Holligan, who limited the Wildcats to four hits, almost escaped a sixth-inning jam that was extended by a failed double-play attempt that gave Las Vegas two runners.
Haro-Reyes blooped a two-out RBI single to right field, and a second run scored on an errant throw home.
“What a great at-bat that was,” Thomas said. “He battled and absolutely put that ball in play.”
Dakota Iverson retired the Aggies in order in the seventh to start the Wildcats’ victory celebration.
“He just did such a great job,” Thomas said. “He completely shut the door.”
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