Wood River
sweeps
Buhl in softball
Close 4-3, 8-5
victories in Hailey
Sweeps week
came at a great time for the Wood River High School softball team, which
got some terrific pitching from senior Amanda Engel and junior Aubrey
Kirtley.
Wood River
polished off its Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference rivals Kimberly and
Buhl with a pair of doubleheader sweeps last week to grab the upper hand
halfway through.
Amanda
Engel, Wood River senior pitcher, tossed a six-hitter at Buhl in
Saturday’s SCIC league game and walked none. It was Amanda’s fifth win
of the season. Express photo by Willy Cook
Disregarding
the cold and wind, Wood River handled defending SCIC champ Kimberly 14-8
and 18-9 Tuesday. The Bulldogs were sloppy, making 19 errors but Hailey’s
hard hitters (11.1 runs per game) made their own luck with 23 hits.
Saturday’s
home doubleheader with perennial SCIC power Buhl put a premium on pitching
and defense—and Wood River (11-5 overall, 3-2 home) showed it could win
that way.
Walking
nobody, Engel (5-2) tamed Buhl 4-3 with a six-hitter in the first league
game. Kirtley (4-2) scattered 11 hits in the second game and the
Wolverines broke open a 3-3 contest with a five-run fifth.
The hitting
star of the week was senior clean-up hitter Ashley Nilsen, who drilled the
ball nearly every time up. Against Buhl, Nilsen (6-for-6) was never
retired. She ripped two doubles, a triple and scored four runs.
Coach Chris
Cey was pleased with the pitching and defense as well as his team’s
hitting. Hailey’s defensive average dropped to 5.7 runs per game. That’s
where winning streaks come from—now five and counting.
The
seventh-year head coach also received an unexpected gift. The sweep of
Buhl lifted Cey over the century mark in career wins, 101-75.
And
counting.
Wood River
is 8-0 in all its SCIC games and has outscored its league foes 113-40.
Laurel
Williams, the senior Wolverine shortstop, has spearheaded a stingy
Hailey defense that is allowing fewer than six runs a game. Last season it
was 10. Express photo by Willy Cook
Having gone
undefeated through the first half of its league schedule, Wood River
begins the second half of its SCIC quest Thursday, April 25 when the Filer
Wildcats come to the South Valley Sports Complex field.
In the SCIC
action (only the first game counting in twinbills) Wood River stands at
4-0, Kimberly 3-1, Buhl 2-2, Filer 1-3 and Declo 0-4.
Game time
is 4 p.m.
Wood River
entertains Declo on Saturday, April 27 and Kimberly next Tuesday. The
season-ending game at Buhl May 4 may determine the top seed and home site
of the SCIC tournament starting Friday, May 10.
Tribe ‘Dogs go
down
Hailey’s
first challenge was to crack the mystique of Kimberly and its fine
righthanded pitcher Kayla Lundy. But Wood River has been playing well on
the road at 8-3.
Thanks in
large part to Lundy, Kimberly hadn’t lost a league game in two years
including 7-1 and 11-1 triumphs over Wood River in last year’s SCIC
district tournament.
Lundy
couldn’t do too much about the 11 errors Kimberly committed in the 14-8
Wolverine first-game win.
But Wood
River hit well, got a fine eight-hitter from Engel (5 Ks, 3 BB) and some
solid infield defense led by shortstop Laurel Williams and second baseman
B.J. Adams.
Staked to a
2-0 lead in the first, Engel stroking a two-out RBI single, Wood River
sent up 11 batters in its seven-run third inning for a 9-0 lead. The big
blow was a two-run double by Aspen Wenglikowski (2 hits).
Kimberly
responded immediately with four runs of its own, a two-run triple by
Elaine Gunnell cutting the Bulldog deficit to 9-4.
The game
settled into a pitcher’s duel until the ‘Dogs jumped on some shaky
Wolverine defense for three more runs and a 9-7 game after six.
But Wood
River batted around for the second time in the seventh, scoring the
decisive five runs helped by three more Bulldog errors, an RBI double by
Kirtley (2 hits, 2 RBI) and a two-run single by Nilsen (2 hits).
Wood River’s
hit parade continued in the nightcap as the visitors gave winning pitcher
Kirtley an 11-3 cushion after three frames.
Actually,
Kimberly’s best chance came in the first inning after a leadoff double
by B.J. Adams and a sacrifice fly by Nilsen put Hailey ahead 1-0.
The ‘Dogs
loaded the bases with no outs and Kirtley walked home the first run, but
catcher Nilsen started a double play that killed Kimberly’s threat. Wood
River batted around for 10 runs in the second and third.
A long
two-run triple by Kirtley (3 hits) and Nilsen’s RBI double made it 6-1,
then the Wolverines tacked on five more runs in the third and ended the
game with a six-run seventh.
Against
Buhl Saturday, Wood River went ahead 1-0 on a second-inning leadoff single
by Nilsen (3 hits, 2 runs) and an RBI double by catcher Joni Chatterton.
A leadoff
triple by Adams (2 hits) and sacrifice fly by Ashley Washburn made it 2-1
after three innings. Buhl reached Engel for two runs in the fifth but Wood
River got them right back.
Williams (2
hits) opened the home fifth with a single and Nilsen doubled. Kirtley and
Engel followed with RBI grounders, Nilsen crossing with the eventual
winner. Engel blanked Buhl in the final two frames.
In the
second game, Nilsen’s leadoff triple in the second and a Chatterton
single made it 1-0. Then one-out singles by Adams (2 hits, 2 runs) and
Washburn (2 hits) hiked the home lead to 3-0 after three innings.
Led by the
hitting of junior Sherry King (5-for-7, 2 triples, HR on the day), Buhl
scratched back for a 3-3 tie in the fifth. Once again, Wood River had a
convincing answer with a five-hit, five-run fifth for an 8-3 lead.
Hits by
Adams, Nilsen, Engel, Chatterton (2 hits) and Tiffany Wheeler (2 hits) did
the damage. And Wood River ended up out-hitting the Tribe 13-11. Kirtley
(3 BB) pitched well, blanking Buhl in four of its seven at-bats for the
game.