Northern 3A playoff picture shapes up

Northern 3A baseball and softball playoff brackets are set after the final weekend of regular season play.

The Truckee High baseball team finished 12-6 in league to earn the North’s No. 3 seed. The Wolverines will host a best-of-three series against fourth-seeded Sparks on Friday and Saturday.

First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the Truckee High baseball field. The second game begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, and if necessary a third and final game will be played at 1 p.m.

The Wolverines have not made the postseason since 2004, when they placed third in the state. Truckee head coach Mike Ellis has been fired up since learning late last week that the Wolverines were hosting. He plans to open a full snack bar for the games and hopes to have a large home crowd to give his team a true homefield advantage.

Spring Creek, which swept three games from Lowry this past week, earned the No. 1 seed with a 15-3 record and will host sixth-seeded Fernley (4-14) on Friday and Saturday.

Dayton, the No. 2 seed, swept Yerington this past week to also finish with a 15-3 record in league. The Dust Devils host fifth-seeded Lowry (4-14) on Friday and Saturday.

The highest of the winning seeds from regionals will be the Northern 3A’s No. 1 seed entering the state tournament. The 3A state championship tournament will be held at both Western Nevada Community College and University of Nevada, Reno, on May 16-17.

Truckee softball

The Truckee High softball team finished with a 9-9 league record and will enter the postseason as the Northern 3A’s No. 4 seed.

Truckee plays at third-seeded Spring Creek (11-7) on Friday at 3:30 p.m. The series continues Saturday at 10 a.m. and noon, if necessary.

Fernley earned the No. 1 seed with a 16-2 record, losing once to Lowry and once to Dayton during the regular season. Fernley hosts sixth-seeded Yerington (3-15) on Friday and Saturday.

Second-seeded Dayton, which finished 15-3, hosts fifth-seeded Lowry (8-10) on Friday and Saturday.

The highest of the winning seeds from regionals will be the Northern 3A’s No. 1 seed entering the state tournament, which will be held at Bishop Manogue High School in Reno on May 16-17.

North Tahoe baseball

The North Tahoe baseball team secured the Northern 2A’s fourth seed with a doubleheader sweep of Whittell this past weekend.

The Lakers play first-seeded Lovelock (Pershing County) in the opening round of the double-elimination regional tournament on Friday at 9 a.m. The tournament, which will be held at Mineral County High School (Hawthorne), continues Saturday.

As of Monday afternoon the playoff bracket was not finalized. Silver Stage is guaranteed the second seed, however. Either Battle Mountain or Hawthorne will be the third seed.

North Tahoe softball

The North Tahoe and Whittell softball teams finished the regular season with identical 3-7 records after splitting a doubleheader on Saturday.

The teams play a tiebreaker today (Tuesday) at Incline High School at 3 p.m. to determine who will advance to the Northern 2A regional tournament.