Gorman right-hander Casey Reese tries to leap over Bonanza catcher Jake Danneffel in the Sunset Regional championship Saturday. Reese sprained his left wrist on the play but remained in the game. Photo by Isaac Brekken/Review-Journal

Casey Reese's left wrist hurt so badly he couldn't swing a bat and could barely catch even the softest of throws.

But there was nothing wrong with the junior's right arm.

Reese pitched a four-hit shutout to lift Bishop Gorman to a 3-0 win over Bonanza (23-11-1) in the Sunset Regional championship game at Centennial on Saturday.

The Gaels (32-7-1) advance to the Class 4A state tournament Thursday through Saturday at UNR's Peccole Park.

Reese injured his wrist in the top of the second inning when he took a tumble while trying to leap over Bonanza catcher Jake Danneffel. But the injury didn't slow Reese, who finished with four strikeouts and no walks in the complete game.

"It hurt pretty bad, but I wasn't going to let my team down," Reese said. "So I decided to come out and just keep pitching."

With his injured wrist taped, Reese often opted to bare-hand even the softest tosses from catcher John Rickard. And in his final two plate appearances, Reese did nothing more than attempt to bunt.

"Casey's struggled a little bit throughout the year, but he's got the stuff to be a big-time pitcher," Gorman coach Chris Sheff said. "And today he showed us a lot of guts and a great effort. He can barely even catch a ball and still goes seven scoreless. It's a pretty impressive effort."

Gorman scored its first run in the second inning. Reese hit a one-out single, and Brandon Garcia followed with another single to center field.

Bonanza's Steve Francom misplayed the ball, and Reese tried to score but was cut down at the plate.

Garcia advanced to second on the play, and scored on David Fry's RBI double.

The Gaels added a run in the third on an RBI single by Corey Roveri and closed the scoring in the fifth with an RBI single by Taylor Cole.

For the day, Reese pitched 8 1/3 scoreless innings and picked up two victories. He pitched 1 1/3 innings of one-hit relief in Gorman's first game, an 8-5 win over Sierra Vista that got the Gaels into the championship game.

"Two wins in one day, that's a good accomplishment," Reese said. "But we've got to keep going."

The Gaels lost 5-4 to Palo Verde in their first game of the tournament but rallied to win five consecutive times to come through the losers' bracket.

"We went a long way," Reese said. "We're a young team. When we lost the first game, all of us were pretty down in the dumps. We really didn't think we had a chance of winning it. We did it for the two seniors on the team, and that was our biggest priority."

Reese also had a solo home run in the win over Sierra Vista (28-7), and the Gaels scored four times in the bottom of the sixth to eliminate the defending state champions.