Center of power

sunset region northwest softball

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With three powerhouse teams and one coming into its own, the Sunset Region's Northwest Division suddenly looks like the strongest of the four divisions in Southern Nevada high school softball.

Palo Verde (11-1), Cimarron-Memorial (11-1), Centennial (9-5) and Shadow Ridge (8-4-1) jumped out to nice starts this spring and will provide very tough matchups with the teams in the Southwest Division when regional play begins on May 10.

The top 10 rankings released April 6 by the Las Vegas Review-Journal revealed how strong the Northwest is as Cimarron (No. 3), Palo Verde (No. 4), Centennial (No. 7) and Shadow Ridge (No. 8) found their way onto the poll.

Fighting for the top spot in the league will be Palo Verde (22-11 last year), coached by Amy Rogers. The Panthers boast one of the best pitchers and one of the most feared hitters in the city in seniors Lindsey Callaway and Courtney Emry.

Last year's Sunset Region's MVP, Callaway (19-8, 0.96 ERA last year) is the ace of the Palo Verde staff and started 5-1 on the mound this season with a 1.06 ERA and 45 strikeouts, second in the city to Desert Pines' Kristina Brooks, who will be a teammate of Callaway's next spring as the two signed letters of intent to attend Southern Utah University in Cedar City.

Callaway also does her part at the plate, batting .440 with nine RBIs as divisional play kicked into high gear earlier this month.

"Lindsey's definitely been hitting her places and doing a good job for us and staying tough when runners have been on base," Rogers said.

Emry, the Panthers' catcher, was having as nice an offensive start as any player in the Las Vegas Valley and was second in the city in batting (.654), tied for first in home runs (four) and was easily leading the city in RBIs (19) at press time.

"She just started off the season with a great bat," Rogers said. "She's a very powerful hitter and she's really performed when she's needed to. She's also a great fielder and we're now using her at catcher. She's got a great arm."

Besides Callaway and Emry, Palo Verde was getting nice production from first baseman Amanda Montalto (.450, two HRs, nine RBIs), senior center fielder Melissa Wilson (.393), senior shortstop Taylor Lawrence (.348), second baseman Brittany Martin (.348), third baseman Cherish Jones-Wilson, Brittany Taylor, outfielders Izzie Hill and Alicia Perry and pitcher Taylor Lampe.

Lawrence's play at shortstop has been big, according to Rogers.

"She's been really reliable in the field. She had some big plays," Rogers said. "She absolutely came through with everything hit at her."

Despite her roster size, Rogers thought there was more than enough quality to make a run this spring.

"We actually have a pretty small team this year," she said. "We just had a good core of girls return."

All in all, Rogers was happy with her Panthers' start, but knew divisional play is an entirely different story.

"I think there's four tough teams right now that all can be contending," Rogers said. "We've yet to have our first matchup against Cimarron, who I believe is a very strong team."

Cimarron-Memorial (24-11) is under the direction of coach Joe Sarro. The Spartans return their own dynamic duo this season in senior catcher Ashley Adams and junior pitcher/first baseman Jennifer Liddell, both All-Sunset picks in 2005.

Although a bit younger than Palo Verde, the Cimarron squad is just as talented and deep with the likes of Megan Van Horn, Brittany Henderson, Felicia Valdez, Kelly Martin, Chelsea Williams, Evelyn Terazas -- who hit an 11th inning home run against Shadow Ridge in a 1-0 win on March 31 -- and Rebecca Wilson, who no-hit Western earlier this season.

The two Northwest teams will lock horns at 3:30 p.m. on May 3 at Palo Verde in what will prove to be a pivotal game for postseason positioning.

The Spartans showed they are for real on March 29 when they traveled to Centennial and beat the Bulldogs, 16-5, as Van Horn went 3-for-5 with five RBIs in the win.

Always fielding a solid team on the diamond, Centennial (17-14), coached by Mike Livreri, is still somewhat young but has the bats to compete with anyone. The Bulldogs, still the only team from Southern Nevada to win a Class 4A softball state championship -- they did it two years ago in ace pitcher Shannon Crisp's senior season -- may not have the experience of Palo Verde, but the players make up for it with heart and offensive firepower.

Two of those big Centennial bats come in the form of senior Brandy Ashford and freshman Johnna Brown.

Ashford, an outfielder, was tied for the city lead in home runs with Palo Verde's Emry with four and was fourth in the area with 10 RBIs while hitting at a healthy .526 clip.

Brown, also a star in her first year on the Bulldogs basketball team, was leading the team in hitting (.538) and had eight RBIs as of press time.

Teresa Healy (.444), Bre Egge (.400), Alissa Rampa (.303) and Tatum Kennedy also helped Centennial off to its 9-5 start.

In an early divisional battle on April 3, the Bulldogs edged up-and-coming Shadow Ridge, 3-2, at Shadow Ridge.

After an impressive 12-8 mark last season, Shadow Ridge, coached by Cynthia Winter, looks to keep improving this year and has a couple of key players to build around in infielder Jasmine Harris, an All-Sunset selection last season, and freshman Mandy Harmon, the team's top hurler. Kelly Purcell, Rayna Bradshaw, Raeann Bohm and Vanessa Simmons are also expected to contribute.

Despite its 1-3 start in the division, the Mustangs can take solace in the fact that two of those losses were by one run and came at the hands of Cimarron-Memorial (1-0) and Centennial (3-2).

Further proof that Shadow Ridge is closing the gap between itself and stronger teams around town was a 6-5 victory at perennial powerhouse Las Vegas on March 30, when Harris went 2-for-2 with two walks. Also, Harmon strutted her stuff early on the hill for the Mustangs and shut out a much-improved Clark squad, 4-0, on March 23.

"I think they've come out really strong," Rogers said of Shadow Ridge. "And they have a good freshman pitcher (Harmon) to help them."

Spring Valley coach Dan Casel said he liked what he saw in the Mustangs.

"When we played them, they had a pitcher (Harmon) that was pretty dominant," he said. "They were good. They were solid."

Potentially fighting for a playoff spot despite being in just its first year of play, Arbor View, coached by Sam Toomer, got off to a 2-3 start in league, but faces the task of trying to be competitive in the city's toughest division with a young and inexperienced team.

The Aggies started out 4-9 overall and have some skilled players in sophomores Sam Cohen and Rachael Muzio and freshman Karla Devries. But in order to taste the postseason, the team will have to beat out Shadow Ridge, a squad Arbor View lost to, 12-1, on April 6.

Cheyenne (4-15), led by coach Melody Simon, started 2-10 overall and 0-4 in the division and has decent starting pitchers in senior Ashley Cross and freshman Alexis Galindo. Senior third baseman Amy Wellnitz and junior shortstop Stephanie Bacca bolster the right side of the infield, but the Desert Shields will have to win a couple of divisional games before being considered in the Northwest race.

Mojave (1-15), coached by Jaime Meza, started the spring 2-9 overall and 1-3 in the league and like Arbor View will have to hope Shadow Ridge slips a bit to have a shot at the playoffs.

The Rattlers are led by senior outfielder Shaina Boman (.521 last year), junior backstop Kristina Blake, Monique Fuiava and Jessica Tosches. Mojave needs quality pitching to have any hope of a winning season as a 15-1 loss to Cimarron and a 10-0 loss to Spring Valley revealed.

Although he hadn't seen all seven teams in the Northwest play, Casel said the Panthers were the team to beat.

"Palo Verde was the best team we've seen so far from over there (Northwest Division)," Casel said. "They hit some bombs against us."

Rogers said she knows how special it would be for her team to succeed this year.

"There's a lot of experience and a lot of girls who really want to go far," she said. "They've been in the program a long time and really have a lot of heart and dedication to push forward this season and see how far we can get."

Northwest Division play continues Wednesday when Cheyenne hosts Palo Verde, Centennial hosts Shadow Ridge and Mojave hosts Arbor View. On Thursday, Arbor View welcomes Centennial, Cimarron hosts Cheyenne and Shadow Ridge hosts Palo Verde. All games start at 3:30 p.m.