Experienced Green Valley top seed in Connie Mack State Tournament

Experience versus youth.

That is what Green Valley Elite coach Corey Gehlken is hoping will carry his top-seeded baseball team through the Connie Mack State Tournament, which begins Monday at College of Southern Nevada’s Morse Stadium in Henderson.

The double-elimination tournament features the top eight teams from the regular season. And while Gehlken acknowledges his team is the perceived favorite, after finishing 15-3 on the year, he’s aware how dangerous every team can be — from top to bottom.

“I love Connie Mack because you play high school rules, and you’re playing the kids who were and are still in high school,” Gehlken said. “These essentially are next year’s high school teams (and) anyone can win it. It’s nice to see competition pretty good across the board.”

The tournament opens at 10 a.m. with the fourth-seeded Las Vegas Cats taking on No. 5 seed Southern Nevada Falcons. At 1 p.m., the third-seeded Las Vegas Grizzlies will face the sixth-seeded Summerlin Panthers. The second-seeded Las Vegas Bengals open play at 5 p.m. against a dangerous seventh-seeded Las Vegas Crusaders team that Gehlken said is rich with pitchers and cannot be underestimated.

Gehlken’s squad meets the Las Vegas Mustangs, seeded eighth, at 8 p.m.

Gehlken pointed out that during the high school postseason lowest-seeded Cimarron-Memorial knocked off Bishop Gorman in the opening round of the Sunset Region tournament. He added that while his team had victories this regular season by big margins, it also has had its share of one-run games.

That’s why he knows there will be some tough competition, beginning with the Mustangs.

“I’m focusing on what our group can do, and trying not to worry about what the other teams can do,” said Gehlken, whose team’s only losses came against the Grizzlies, Falcons and Bengals. “But this is one of those tournaments you have to go deeper into your pitching staffs, and if you have two or three arms that are pitching well, you can go far.”

The other factor will be the change from metal bats to wood bats for the tournament.

“I think that helps us,” Gehlken said. “We’ve been young the past couple of years, but this year we’re one of the teams with experience. That’ll help us in the tournament, but the wood bats are going to slow down everyone’s offense.”