Sierra Vista High School's softball squad came extremely close to becoming the second Class 4A team from Southern Nevada to win a state championship last season but ran into a freight train by the name of McQueen.
With three of the key cogs on that team returning in the form of seniors Kylee Kissane, Rebecca Rumsey and Stacey Burgos, Sierra Vista coach Jerome Streets and his Mountain Lions (31-13 last year) have even higher expectations for this season.
The class of the Sunset Region's Southwest Division, Sierra Vista started the spring at 17-2 and was ranked No. 1 in Southern Nevada by the Las Vegas Review-Journal in its April 20 poll.
Despite losing star infielder Kristin Delahoussaye to graduation, Sierra Vista returns 10 players who have the memory of a loss in their last game of the year -- a 5-0 shutout at the hands of McQueen ace Katie Eshelmen -- fresh in their minds.
No team in town has two better starting pitchers than Kissane (11-3, 1.76 ERA) and Rumsey. Besides proving effective on the pitcher's mound, Kissane and Rumsey also hit the ball well. With Burgos, Tayler Aleman, Rachel Johnson and Kelsey McCoy, Sierra Vista has enough offensive firepower to outscore most opponents.
Despite the improvements of some other schools in the league, the Mountain Lions are still the team to beat in the division and should be a force when the postseason begins May 10 with regional play.
Pushing the team will be Spring Valley (13-13 last year), coached by Dan Casel. After making the playoffs last season in the school's first year of existence, a rarity in Las Vegas, the Grizzlies started this campaign off 10-5 overall and 4-1 in the Southwest, their lone loss coming to Sierra Vista (8-0) as Kissane hurled a three-hit shutout and Aleman went 3-for-4 with a three-run home run.
Leading the way at the head of the Grizzlies' batting order is senior Molly Bausher, a second baseman with one of the best bats in the city. After hitting at a robust .558 clip last year, the University of Michigan-bound star started this spring out hitting a devilish .666.
"She's very important to our team," Casel said of Bausher. "She has really good team leadership skills and a lot of the girls really respect her and she comes to the field ready to play ball every day. And she's the fastest girl in town."
Casel said it was a big deal for a new high school like Spring Valley to have one of its players receive a scholarship offer from a big-time school like Michigan, the defending national champions in NCAA softball.
"It was tremendous," he said. "It almost gives us instant credibility as a program. We're really happy about it."
On the hill, Spring Valley features senior Stacey Dilts (2-2, 2.52 ERA), who Casel said "is like having another coach on the field," and sophomore Taylor Gilliland (4-3), who impressed her coach with the way she was swinging the bat.
"She's a really good pitcher, infielder, and she's only a sophomore," Casel said. "She's second on our team in hitting, batting like .584, and is leading our team in RBIs. She has stepped it up big time."
The Grizzlies really excel at the plate, where Bausher, Gilliland (.584), Katie Garcia (.452), Jasmine Wilson (.407), Ashley Dehler, Megan Otruba, Kelsey Romeo and Kendra Hubbard are all swinging hot bats early.
Spring Valley's start earned it a No. 9 ranking by the Review-Journal and put them in early position to earn a playoff berth.
Casel said his goal for the 2006 season was a simple one.
"I just want them to improve from last year," he said. "Last year we made the playoffs and we were two (losses) and done."
Another tough team in the Southwest is Bonanza (19-10), led by longtime coach Cheryl Speer. After winning the division last year, the Bengals got off to a 2-2 start in the league and 6-7 overall mark this spring.
Although star pitcher Megan Lambertz graduated, the team has a nice pair of pitchers in Joyce Delp and Samantha Snyder, and some quality hitters in senior catcher Brooke Price, Brittany Spencer and Kathy Willinsky, who starred for the basketball team in the winter.
Bonanza proved it can score runs in a 24-7 pasting of Mojave earlier this spring and should have enough to improve on its .500 start and secure one of the league's four playoff spots.
Battling Bonanza in the standings will be Clark (20-12), a program that improved immensely last season under coach Andrea Leavitt. With a renovated field and a plethora of talented returners, the Chargers can look toward the postseason again but will need to deal with Bonanza and Durango, two teams in the same position.
Clark boasts a talented foursome in senior Britney Garrett, juniors Missy Davenport (.422 last year) and Phylicia Luna and sophomore pitcher Jordayn McDonald -- the latter three who all play under Bishop Gorman coach Kevin Smith for the Las Vegas Blast's 18 & Under club softball team along with Bonanza's Delp -- as well as a talented supporting cast in Melissa Schellburg, Summer Holyoak and Elisa Dawson. The Chargers started out 3-1 in the Southwest and 6-5 overall.
Durango (11-18), coached by Sandy Morgan, fields a very young team -- nine of its 13 players are underclassmen -- but with a 2-1 conference start and 5-5 overall mark, the Trailblazers can still battle both Clark and Bonanza for a shot at the postseason despite missing out in 2005.
Makinna Meeks, Hailey Hachtel, D.J. Richardson and Allie Voge are among Durango's top players this season.
Gorman (9-9), coached by Smith, hasn't tasted the playoffs in a while. After starting this spring 2-11 overall and 0-5 in the division, the Gaels will be hard-pressed to make the playoffs. Junior Erin Piorkowski is the Gaels' top pitcher and Lynsey Freeman, Brittany Bridges and Hayley Atiyeh are all solid hitters.
Western (2-19), led by Coleen Montes, will look to rebuild this season after an 0-4 Southwest start and an 0-13 overall mark. The Warriors will hope to get a win somewhere down the line to build some much-needed confidence.
All in all, Spring Valley's Casel said the Southwest Division is Sierra Vista's to lose.
"It's going to be really tough to beat Sierra Vista," he said. "After Sierra Vista, it'll be a toss-up between us, probably Clark and Bonanza or Durango. Bonanza's got a great coach and she's going to get those kids ready to play. I know next time we go over to play Bonanza it's going to be a different game."
Southwest Division play continues Wednesday when Sierra Vista hosts Bonanza, Western welcomes Durango and Gorman plays host to Spring Valley. On Thursday, Durango hosts Spring Valley, Western welcomes Clark and Gorman and Sierra Vista meet. All games are scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
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