Las Vegas works late, beats Cimarron

Rickey Ferreira stepped to the plate Tuesday night with no desire to play a 13th inning.

The reserve right fielder had his mind on a particular pitch, and he got it. He lined a walk-off single to center field to score Justin Cheney from third base in the bottom of the 12th, lifting third-seeded Las Vegas over No. 7 Cimarron-Memorial 6-5 in a second-round elimination game in the American Legion state tournament at Wilson Stadium.

Las Vegas will play Reno at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

“I was hoping (Spartans reliever Joshua Nuernberg) would throw me an outside pitch,” Ferreira said. “And he pitched it right there.”

The hit put an end to a game that featured six Las Vegas errors, five miscues by Cimarron and numerous blown scoring opportunities by both squads.

Las Vegas coach Gino DiMaria, whose team has struggled with injuries throughout the season, said his players showed great resolve.

“This has been a very long season,” DiMaria said. “We’re banged up pretty good. But these guys usually put themselves in situations like this, and they know how to respond.”

Las Vegas (25-10) took control early, grabbing a 1-0 lead courtesy on a home run by Juan Deolarte in the third inning.

Though the Spartans (24-11-1) squandered chances in the third and fourth innings, they finally answered with a two-run single by Jayson Hicks to go ahead 2-1 in the fifth.

Las Vegas tied the score at 2 in the bottom of the inning, when Spartans starter Gunnar Atteberry committed a bases-loaded balk to score Xavier Palmer from third base. A two-run single by Brady Page in the sixth put Las Vegas ahead, 4-2.

Las Vegas added a run in the seventh, but Cimarron battled back to tie it at 5 with two runs in the eighth and an unearned run on an RBI single by Hicks in the ninth. Las Vegas reliever Dillon Dove struck out three consecutive batters with two runners on base to escape the jam.

Las Vegas didn’t have an extra-inning baserunner until Cheney singled up the middle to lead off the 12th.

Dustin Cash followed with a single, and a fielding error moved the runners to second and third with no outs, setting up Ferreira’s heroics.

“We gave (Cash) the take sign there,” DiMaria said. “But he unloaded, and the kids fed off it.”

Palmer, Page and Cheney had two hits apiece to lead Las Vegas. Dove, who was injured by a line drive Sunday against Reno, returned to the lineup to pitch 5 1/3 strong innings of relief, striking out nine, to earn the victory.

Hicks and Drew Danzeisen each had three hits to lead the Spartans.

In other third-round action, Durango will face Bishop Gorman in Wednesday’s early game at 5 p.m.

Liberty 14, Reno 4 — In the winners' bracket, the second-seeded Patriots (24-8) sent 15 batters to the plate in a 10-run sixth inning that helped propel them past the No. 6 Knights (35-19).

Christopher Bradford, who went 2-for-4, started Liberty’s scoring onslaught with a two-run homer, and Daniel Skelly added a two-run double.

Preston Pavlica added two hits for the Patriots, who made the most of their 10 hits.