Another weekend in the books, and as I mentioned over the weekend, it was a good one for Top Tier Las Vegas.
Let’s open things today with our 10U team, who made their way into bracket play in the PG Spring NIT with a 2-1-1 record in pool play. After coming away with a tie and a narrow loss to a good Total Baseball Vipers team out of California, the 10s swept their pool play doubleheader on Friday, notching 13-4 and 7-3 wins over LVBA and the Riverdawgs out of Utah.
Linken Hatada led the way offensively for Top Tier in their victory over LVBA, going 3-3 with a double, 3 RBI, and a run scored. Star Apilando went 2-2 with a double, a walk, and RBI, and three runs scored, and pitched a complete game, allowing four tuns on four hits while striking out seven and walking just one. Aukai Louis and Avery Taylor also picked up extra base hits in the win.
Taylor doubled again in the 7-3 victory over the Riverdawgs, while Ian Morel went 2-2 with a walk, an RBI, and three runs scored. Oliver Barlow was dominant on the mound, striking out five and walking none in three scoreless innings of work.
An undefeated Friday for the 10U team earned them a birth into bracket play, where they matched up with MTBA. After scoring 20 runs on Friday, the offense didn’t have the same success on Saturday, managing just one run on two hits. Linken Hatada collected one of those hits in a 5-1 loss to MTBA, capping off an eight-hit weekend. Hatada was 8-for-13 with a pair of doubles, 7 RBI, and 5 runs scored.
Despite bowing out in brackets, the 10U group played well in their biggest tournament of the season to date. There’s plenty of reason to be excited about this group moving forward as the core of the roster continues to thrive together.
The Two Hole: Top Tier Las Vegas Wins 14U USSSA Spring NIT; Prep Baseball Rising Stars Event
If you missed it, the 13U Americans had their best weekend of the season, winning the USSSA Spring NIT in the 14U Open division. For a group that’s had it’s fair share of turbulence and turnover, it was nice to see them come together and accomplish what they did over the weekend.
You can read all about that here:
Both groups are off this weekend from team competition, but we will have players competing in the Prep Baseball Rising Stars event at Green Valley High School on Saturday.
The Rising Stars event is an identifier for the Las Vegas Rising Stars Games, taking place at the beginning of the summer, where the Prep Baseball Nevada team will select their rosters for the 2026 Junior Future Games, an invite-only event for the top 2030 and 2031s from around the country to compete at the Junior Future Games in late July at LakePoint in Emerson, Georgia.
Around the Horn
- I saw this on Sunday while I was scrolling X, and it’s something that gets overlooked by many coaches and parents, and undervalued by players.
- I understand that we operate in a space, where we play a bunch of doubleheaders, crammed together, with time limits, and often no window for a real pregame routine or system (unless you catch the dreaded 7 a.m. report time), but I think this has to be something we all value more. Getting in and out of the dugout fast. Using the couple of minutes in between innings to be productive, and do something meaningful, rather than just going through the motions, is extremely important, especially as you get older and start playing high-level baseball.
- I was at Bishop Gorman a few weeks ago watching Stoneman Douglas and Bishop Verot—a pair of Flordia programs—at the Gorman Invitational, and I was sitting next to Brady Kotake and Trey Webb from our program, and I pointed out to them what Stoneman’s pregame looked like in right field. It wasn’t a coach-led system. It was player-led, individualized, clean and efficient. It’s the type of thing that’s expected at the next level and always a sign of a good team.
- My final point on this: It doesn’t get to that point for a player, unless it’s something that’s made a point of emphasis by his coaches and parents at an early age.
- Let’s catch up on some high school action from the weekend:
- Jacob Estrada (2029, Sierra Vista) went 1-1 and retired the lone batter he faced on the mound for the Mountain Lions on Friday against Liberty.
- Jojo Luna (2028, Del Sol) went 2-2 with a run scored in Del Sol’s loss to Doral Red Rock.
- Tatum Tra (2029, Desert Oasis) went 0-2 with a walk against Foothill on Saturday.
- Jackson Pahang (2029, Spanish Springs) went 0-2 with a walk in Spanish Spring’s victory over Reed.
- Faith Lutheran and Sierra Vista’s JV squads meet this afternoon at Faith with a trio of Top Tier players in the mix (Blake Bedard, Faith Lutheran; Santiago Fargo, Faith Lutheran; and Jacob Estrada, Sierra Vista). First pitch is set for 4:00 p.m.
- Coronado (Miles Allen, 2029) hosts Virgin Valley at 3:30 p.m. today.
- ICYMI:
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