Wood River earns home game in SCIC softball
Tournament opens Friday in Hailey
They didn’t get everything they wanted, but Wood River
High School softball players won one of two Sawtooth Central Idaho
Conference league games last week to earn a tournament home game.
With senior righthander Bri Salmon (3-3) throwing a tidy
six-hitter, Wood River took care of the Buhl Tribe 12-6 Thursday in a
pivotal SCIC league game at South Valley Sports Complex in Hailey.
Just two days before, Wood River had narrowly lost 8-7 at
home to SCIC front-runner Kimberly. But a win over Buhl was the one the
Wolverines needed to take the second seed in the four-team SCIC tourney.
Wood River (9-12 overall, 3-3 league) will now entertain
defending SCIC tournament champion Buhl (2-4 league) Friday, May 4 at 5
p.m. on the Hailey diamond. The teams split four games this season, and
divided two league affairs.
But Wood River generally does better on its homefield,
including a 38-20 record the past five seasons. In tournament play, Wood
River (122-140 over 10 years, 88-73 fast pitch) is 8-6 the past three
years including the 1998 SCIC title.
Kimberly (11-3, 5-0 league) will be seeking its first-ever
SCIC title. The Bulldogs visited Filer (4-12, 1-4 league) Tuesday
afternoon in the regular-season league finale and will host Filer Friday
at 5 p.m. in the other first-round SCIC game.
Second-round games are scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m.
with a loser bracket contest Monday and the championship game Tuesday at 5
p.m. The tournament winner automatically qualifies for the State A-2 meet
May 17 in Coeur d’Alene. Buhl went last year.
WR12, Buhl 6
Buhl 17, WR 10
Salmon (8 Ks, 7 BB) spotted Buhl a 3-0 lead. The 12-hit
Wolverine attack went to work, scoring 11 runs in three at-bats.
The five-run Wolverine first opened when B.J. Adams (2
hits, 2 runs) singled. Salmon (2 hits, 3 runs) had a sacrifice bunt and
reached on an error.
Jonmarie Shaw (2 hits, 2 runs) delivered an RBI single,
Emily Leatham added a run-scoring single and Kristin Lyons (3 hits)
finished the big inning with a two-run single.
Wood River added two runs in the second on leadoff singles
by Adams, Salmon and Shaw (2 RBI), a Leatham RBI grounder and Joni
Chatterton’s run-scoring single. Aubrey Kirtley’s one-out single then
fueled a three-run third.
Free passes (9 BB, 2 HBP) cost Wood River dearly in the
17-10 nightcap loss, which didn’t count in SCIC standings.
Shortstop Chatterton led the way with three hits and three
RBI. Catcher Laurel Williams scored twice and Adams (2 runs) drilled a
triple.
Kimberly 8, WR 7
Kimberly 19, WR 7
The league-leading Kimberly Bulldogs were holding their
breath last Tuesday. That’s because Wood River gave the Bulldogs a huge
scare.
Trailing 8-3 in the seventh inning of the SCIC game at
South Valley Sports Complex, Wood River rallied for four runs and filled
the bases with two outs. But the Wolverines couldn't push across the tying
run and fell 8-7.
Walks and hit batsmen continued to bedevil the Wood River
pitching staff.
Although Salmon whiffed 13 Bulldogs and allowed only eight
hits, she issued five walks and hit two Bulldogs—and three Kimberly runs
came across the plate on free passes.
Wood River's near-miracle rally in the seventh and final
inning of regulation started when Ashley Washburn delivered a one-out
single.
Hot hitter Adams (3 hits, 2 runs) doubled and Salmon
scored a run with a grounder.
With two outs, Shaw (2 hits) chipped in with an RBI
single. Williams singled and scored the seventh run on a passed ball. The
Wolverines proceeded to load the bases, but Kimberly sophomore righthander
Kayla Lundy enticed a game-ending grounder to keep the Bulldog SCIC
unbeaten boast alive.
In the second game, Wood River jumped ahead 3-0 after one
inning, Kristin Lyons hitting a two-out RBI single to plate the third run.
But Kimberly scored nine runs in the second inning on
eight walks and just two hits and breezed 19-7. Williams and Shaw each had
two hits and scored twice for Wood River.
Twin Falls JV 10, WR 6
WR 11, Twin Falls sophs 4
The main attraction of Friday’s regular-season home
finale was "Senior Night." But the Wolverines did some
celebrating on the diamond, too, particularly in game two.
Adams and sophomore Molly Meyers each ripped three hits in
the opening game.
Leading the way in the nightcap win were Shaw (2 hits
including a homer), Adams (triple) and Leatham (2 hits, 2 runs). Sophomore
Aubrey Kirtley (1-0) earned her first pitching win, in relief.
