The Greenwave baseball team celebrates near the mound after defeating Dayton on Wednesday for the Northern 3A East championship.
Photo by Thomas Ranson.
FERNLEY — When Damien Towne saw his catcher sprint toward the mound after the final out, he couldn’t believe his eyes.
After catching the final strike — and out — of the 2021 season, Tyler Austin ran up to his teammate, embraced him, before the rest of the Greenwave piled onto the junior battery after winning the Northern 3A East championship.
“He’s basically my brother. It was pretty great for me and him to have that moment,” Towne said.
Towne continued his mastery from Saturday and allowed two runs over the remaining five innings on a sunny and warm Wednesday afternoon as the Greenwave defeated the Dust Devils, 5-2, to win the league championship at Fernley High School.
Thomas Ranson / LVN
Fallon junior Damien Towne pitches in the final inning against Dayton.
With Dayton ace Tyler Stolfich on the hill on Wednesday, Fallon, the No. 4 seed, didn’t waver and redeemed itself after being no-hit earlier in the season against the top team from the division.
“Just seeing him the second time always helps,” Fallon coach Lester de Braga said about Stolfich. “We worked on it by trying to stay short to the ball and not trying to match him, swing with him, and trying to put it in play. We’ve just been seeing the ball really well the last week. The ball must look really big to them.”
Towne outdueled Stolfich and Sean Kinney by striking out seven in allowing two earned runs on four hits in the complete-game performance. Stolfich struck out five in five innings and allowed three hits and an earned run, while Kinney had a rocky start with three runs (two earned) allowed on three hits and three walks against three strikeouts.
“Honestly, I was just thinking about continuing where I left off,” Towne said of his approach. “That first half game, I was throwing good then. I was just real confident coming into this game.”
De Braga said his pitching staff was starting to peak with the league tournament, the sixth and final week of the season.
Thomas Ranson / LVN
Fallon senior Matt Davis makes a sliding catch in centerfield to rob Dayton of a run.
After scoring a trio of runs off Kinney in Winnemucca, Fallon took advantage of errors against Stolfich.
Steven Moon, the ninth-slot hitter, reached second on third baseman’s Carter Shuck’s two-base throwing error that sailed past first. Matt Davis’ sacrifice fly to right advanced Moon to third. Cooper Lee’s safety squeeze bunt to Stolfich scored Moon to give Fallon a 4-0 lead. Lee was safe on the throw at first.
“We’ve got all kinds coming back. Our future is bright,” said de Braga, who played several freshmen and sophomores during the league tournament. “Our JV kids, our freshmen kids, everyone coming into the program, it’s a phenomenal bunch.”
Stolfich retired two of the next three in the air when Avery Strasdin flew out to left and Bryce Adams popped out to shallow center.
Davis saved a potential run in the bottom half of the inning after Towne retired the first two on a strikeout and groundout. Broc Strong walked on four straight pitches before Shuck struck the third pitch in his at-bat to deep center. Davis’ sprint and sliding catch ended the inning.
“We just stepped up today. We didn’t make errors. Everybody did their part,” Davis said of the defense.
The Greenwave added their fifth and final run in the fifth inning.
Austin doubled to deep left to lead off the inning before stealing third. Brady Alves scored Austin on a fielder’s choice that went wrong at the plate. Second baseman Jacob Moore threw to Strong to try to retire Austin at the plate, but the throw was late, resulting in Alves being forced out at first.
Fallon continued to threaten when Moon singled and then advanced on an error to reach second. Stolfich hit Davis but struck out swinging to end the top of the inning.
After allowing another walk in the bottom of the inning, Towne ran into trouble in the final two frames.
Robbie Harrison singled on a line drive to center but was forced on out Stolfich’s fielder’s choice on Alves’ throw to Cooper at second.
With two outs and Stolfich on first, Strong doubled to deep left to score Stolfich. Fallon’s relay, though, ended Dayton’s hopes of continuing the inning when Austin fired a bullet to Strasdin to retire Strong at third.
“It’s really rewarding,” Strasdin said of the win. “Even with the shortest amount of time we’ve ever had playing sports, this is the closest brotherhood I’ve ever experienced.”
Shuck’s leadoff home run to left field got Dayton to within three in the final inning but Towne closed the door. Towne struck out Ethan Callan looking for the first out and Moore flew out to center. Koen Stott struck out swinging on a 2-2 count to end the game.
“This is the most enjoyable year I think I’ve had,” de Braga said. “We come in, because of Covid, a little more relaxed because there wasn’t as much on the line, but the kids are just battling and battling. We knew the caliber of kids we had, and we just had to get into the tournament at the end. It’s something we’ve done all along, but we peaked where we needed to be.”
Thomas Ranson / LVN
Fallon freshman Brady Alves knocks in Tyler Austin to give Fallon a 5-0 lead on Wednesday.
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