Miller sends Spanish Springs to quarterfinals with five scoreless
By Brian Walther, reporting intern
Things went right on both sides of the ball for Spanish Springs on Tuesday afternoon in a 9-0 home shutout victory over Damonte Ranch in the first round of the 4A North regional tournament.
UNLV signee Casey Miller started on the mound for the second-seeded Cougars (22-6) and struck out eight in five scoreless one-hit innings to pick up the win over the seventh-seeded Mustangs (14-17).
“We played good,” Spanish Springs coach Matt Ortiz said. “We pitched good and we played defense.”
The Cougars got on the board early in the first when Marlin Brucato scored on a wild pitch. Brucato finished 1-for-3 with a double and scored three times.
Spanish Springs broke things open in the third inning on a Dawson Martin two-run double, followed by three more runs scoring on an error and a sacrifice fly by Joey Prizina to make it 6-0.
Josh Prizina also had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with an RBI double in the fourth.
“We had some timely hits, and that’s the reason we won nine to nothing,” Ortiz said.
Tristan Dahir closed things out in the final two innings, giving up just one hit and striking out three without allowing a run.
Spanish Springs remains at home on Wednesday and will play host to third-seeded Galena (20-12) with a spot in the 4A North semifinals at stake. The Grizzlies won both regular-season meetings with the Cougars, 7-4 and 14-4, in early April.
First pitch is at 4 p.m.
4A North first round scores
Reno 3, Wooster 0
McQueen 6, Bishop Manogue 1
Galena 4, Carson 1
Spanish Springs 9, Damonte Ranch 0
4A North quarterfinals (Wednesday at 4 p.m.)
No 5 McQueen at No. 1 Reno
No. 3 Galena at No. 2 Spanish Springs
4A North loser’s bracket (Wednesday at 4 p.m.)
No. 8 Wooster at No. 4 Bishop Manogue
No. 7 Damonte Ranch at No. 6 Carson
Leave a Reply