REGION BASEBALL: Rams’ Qualls frustrates Gators

Rancho baseball coach Tom Pletsch said he feels pretty confident any time Zak Qualls pitches.

Qualls showed why Tuesday.

The senior left-hander fired a two-hitter to help Rancho to a 7-1 win at Green Valley in the Sunrise Region tournament.

"He had great stuff today," Pletsch said. "Any time we put Qualls on the mound we've got a chance to beat anybody."

Qualls struck out 11 and walked three. Seven Green Valley batters struck out looking as Qualls took advantage of a generous outside corner.

"The umpire helped me out a bit, he did," Qualls said. "But they couldn't adjust, and I kept doing it."

Rancho (29-4) plays Coronado (21-11) at 4 p.m. today at Las Vegas High, with the winner moving into Friday's championship round in the double-elimination tournament.

Green Valley (27-6) plays Las Vegas (22-7) in an elimination game at 10 a.m.

The Rams staked Qualls to a 3-0 lead in the first. Michael Cruz led off with a single, and Qualls was hit by a pitch.

Brandon Pletsch then hit a ground-rule double to right to score Cruz. Qualls came home on a wild pitch, and Pletsch scored on Scott Koenen's grounder to second.

"We've been talking about setting the tempo," Tom Pletsch said. "It got us going, and I think we caught them off guard a little bit."

The Rams had five consecutive two-out hits in the fifth to score three more runs to push the lead to 7-1. Brandon Pletsch had an RBI double, and Koenen and Eric Holdren added RBI singles.

Pletsch was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs, and Kevin Kline and Holdren each went 2-for-3 for Rancho.

Alec Hutt had a solo homer in the second to account for Green Valley's run.

Qualls said Tuesday's game was key because it knocked a quality Green Valley team into the losers' bracket.

"This game was the biggest game to win," Qualls said. "(Today), it will be a good game, but this was the big game. We came out and handled our business and found out how it feels to play a really good game."

His coach didn't agree, saying that the matchup with Coronado will be the biggest in the tournament.

"(Today's) the one that you've got to win," Tom Pletsch said. "If you win that, you get a day off, you get to rest your pitching, and somebody's got to beat you twice on Friday.

"Our whole goal the entire season has been to win the regional and get back to the state tournament. And (today) we're going to play like it's the championship game."

■ Coronado 8, Silverado 4 -- At Coronado, the Cougars used a five-run sixth inning to come from behind and top the Skyhawks.

Cody Howard was 2-for-4 with a double, a run and two RBIs and Jordan Kingsley was 2-for-2 with three runs for Coronado.

Marty Sifuentes went 3-for-4 with an RBI for Silverado (17-14), which plays Liberty (18-9-1) in an elimination game at 1 p.m. today at Las Vegas High.

■ Liberty 11, Chaparral 7 -- At Liberty, Michael Vargas went 2-for-3 with a double, a triple and three RBIs as the Patriots eliminated the Cowboys (7-16).

Manuel Menocal went 2-for-4 with two RBIs for the Patriots, who had 13 hits. Danny Topps went 3-for-4 for Liberty.

■ Las Vegas 11, Eldorado 1 -- At Las Vegas, Jessie Acosta went 3-for-3 with a home run and four RBIs as the Wildcats eliminated the Sundevils (15-16) in five innings.

Dustin Cash was 2-for-2 with a double, two runs and an RBI and Justin Cheney was 2-for-4 with a double for Las Vegas.

Sterling Tidwell threw a three-hitter to get the win.

SUNSET REGION

Sierra Vista (33-2) scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to break a 4-4 tie and defeat visiting Spring Valley 6-4 in a Sunset Region playoff game.

Sierra Vista had scored 37 runs in the two regular-season wins over Spring Valley.

"No one ever says you've got to win pretty," Sierra Vista coach Nate Selby said. "In the playoffs, we'll take coming in with one more run than the other team, and we were fortunate to get that done today."

Sierra Vista (33-2) hosts Bishop Gorman (30-4) at 4 p.m. today with the winner advancing to Friday's championship round. Spring Valley (15-15) plays Desert Oasis (19-11) in an elimination game at 1 p.m. at Sierra Vista.

After watching the Grizzlies score two runs in the top of the fifth to tie the game, the Mountain Lions responded with two runs in the bottom half.

Senior Billy Santiwan hit a two-out double to score Scott Tomassetti and give Sierra Vista a 5-4 lead.

Santiwan then stole third and scored an insurance run on a fielding error for the game's final margin.

"We kid Billy a lot on his athleticism," Selby said. "He doesn't get the attention that some of our other players get, but he's just as deserving as he's been a solid player for us all year."

Alex Estrella tossed five solid innings to earn the win, and reliever Dusty Stevens threw two scoreless innings to pick up the save.

Santiwan started a three-run second inning with an RBI single on a sharp grounder that found the hole between third and shortstop to score Blair Goldsack.

Spring Valley tied the game 4-4 in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI single by Glenn Smith and an RBI double by Dylan Drachler but blew opportunities to make it a big inning.

Drachler overran second on his double, not knowing that Smith had stopped at third, and Drachler was eventually tagged out after a three-player rundown.

Smith was then thrown out at the plate on a failed squeeze bunt attempt, and Spring Valley made its final out on the bases after Drew LaComb stole second. LaComb tried to make it to third after catcher Tomassetti's throw sailed into center field. Sierra Vista center fielder Tyler Condie gunned down LaComb at third to end the inning.

Sierra Vista turned three double plays in the game, including a key one that ended the top of the sixth inning.

Goldsack finished 2-for-2 for Sierra Vista.

Smith went 2-for-2 for Spring Valley.

■ Bishop Gorman 5, Centennial 4 -- At Gorman, Joey Gallo's RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the 10th lifted the Gaels over the Bulldogs.

Centennial retired the first two batters in the 10th before Jerrell Latham and T.J. White walked to extend the inning.

Gallo was 4-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs and A.J. Van Meetren went 3-for-4 with a triple and an RBI for the Gaels.

Cody Roper threw four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out four, to get the win.

Casey Moses was 2-for-5 with an RBI for Centennial (22-12), which plays Faith Lutheran in an elimination game at 10 a.m. today at Sierra Vista.

■ Desert Oasis 15, Shadow Ridge 5 -- At Desert Oasis, Dylan Krasn went 3-for-5 with a double, three runs scored and three RBIs to lead the Diamondbacks to a five-inning win over the Mustangs (19-12).

Riley Smith finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Zane Killebrew was 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs for Desert Oasis, which had 20 hits.

■ Faith Lutheran 12, Cimarron-Memorial 3 -- At Cimarron, Blake Matthias was 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and four RBIs to help the Crusaders eliminate the Spartans (23-9).

Josh Murtha hit a grand slam in the fourth inning to put Faith Lutheran up 4-3.

Brett Yee was 3-for-3 with two runs for the Crusaders.

Cimarron's A.J. Hernandez was 3-for-4 with a triple.