Engel throws
shutout, Hailey blanks Buhl 11-0
Wolverine softball
wins league title
When you’ve
got solid pitching and defense, reliable hitting and lots of senior
leadership, it’s vital to buckle down and win those important league
games on the road.
The Wood
River High School softball team recognized the challenge and answered it
Saturday—winning 11-0 at Buhl on a six-hit shutout by senior Amanda
Engel.
Engel
(7-3), who allowed just one run and 10 hits in 16 innings of outstanding
clutch pitching last week, gave Wood River its first-ever Sawtooth Central
Idaho Conference regular-season league title.
Coach Chris
Cey’s Wolverines played errorless defense in their biggest game of 2002
and belted 10 hits. They blew open a close 1-0 game with a six-run fifth
and run-ruled the sloppy Tribe (7 errors).
Wood River
(17-6, 7-1 league) thus earned the top seed and home field advantage in
the upcoming SCIC tournament.
And just
how important was Saturday’s victory?
If Buhl had
won and created a three-way tie for first place with the Wolverines and
reigning league champ Kimberly, Wood River would have dropped all the way
to third place and lost the home field edge because of the pre-ordained
coin flip.
"We
wanted to play at home," said Cey, whose Wolverines are 47-23 at home
the past six seasons.
They’ll
do it starting Friday, May 10 at 5 p.m. as the five-team SCIC meet opens
on the Hailey softball diamond.
Although
Wood River has dominated the league this spring, going 14-1 in all its
SCIC games and outscoring league foes 191-53, a surprising 1-0 loss to
Kimberly last Tuesday set up the do-or-die scenario.
Actually,
the great pitching of Kimberly junior Kayla Lundy wasn’t a surprise at
all in the splendid pitcher’s duel at South Valley Sports Complex in
Hailey. Last spring’s 3A "Player of the Year" in the Magic
Valley, righty Lundy led Kimberly to its first SCIC title.
Both Lundy
(73 pitches) and Engel (71 pitches) were absolutely great in an efficient
71-minute masterpiece of a fast-pitch battle. Kimberly thus ended Wood
River’s eight-game winning streak.
Lundy (7
assists) stranded seven Wolverines and gloved a bunch of grounders up the
middle. She ended with a six-hitter, escaping a no-out, second-and-third
threat in the fourth with two whiffs and a grounder.
Engel was
even better, tossing a three-hitter. She allowed a leadoff single by
Whitney Bollwinkle, who stole second, went to third on a passed ball and
scored the only run of the game on a grounder by Lundy.
Wood River’s
defense was bulletproof again, as senior shortstop Laurel Williams (7
assists, 3 putouts) figured in virtually half the outs and turned a big
double play in the sixth.
Outfielder
Mollie Meyers made a fine running grab and senior first sacker Ashley
Nilsen had 14 putouts.
The second
"Senior Night" game against Kimberly was a 14-1 success story,
junior Aubrey Kirtley (8-2) collecting the win in relief of Engel. The
Wolverines managed only seven hits but Kimberly committed six errors and
issued 10 free passes.
Second
baseman B.J. Adams (3 runs, 3 RBI), Williams (4-for-6 for the twinbill)
and Kristin Lyons (2 hits, 2 runs) led the attack in the non-league game
against Kimberly.
In Saturday’s
opener at Buhl, Williams (2 runs) reached on a Tribe error and scored the
first run in the fourth. The decisive six-run fifth included RBI singles
by Adams and Joni Chatterton (2 hits, 2 runs each), a two-run hit by
Kirtley and RBI single by Engel (2 hits including a triple).
Wood River
swept its sixth doubleheader of the season in the nightcap by an 8-4
score.
A leadoff
single by Adams (2 hits, 2 runs), an RBI hit by winning pitcher Kirtley (3
hits, 3 runs, 4 RBI) and run-scoring grounders by Ashley Washburn and
Aspen Wenglikowski (2 hits) sparked Wood River to a four-run first inning.
Megan Lyons
added an RBI single and Nilsen scored two runs for the winners, who
out-hit Buhl 12-6.
· WOLVERINE
NOTES—Wood River’s batters were averaging .377 as a team entering
the Buhl twinbill, according to ace scorekeeper Gariety Pruitt….Wood
River is 10-3 on the road, two of those in the season-opening twinbill at
Twin Falls. The Wolverines last fell on the road April 9 in the second
game of a doubleheader at Jerome….
The league
hasn’t had a back-to-back tournament winner since Buhl in 1996-97….The
last four SCIC tourney winners: Wood River in 1998, Filer in 1999, Buhl in
2000 and Kimberly in 2001.…
Wood River’s
defense will set school records. The team has scored 255 runs in 23 games
(11.1 per game) and allowed only 104 (4.5). In the last nine games the
defense is yielding 2.3…Last year, in 27 games (4-10 on the road) it was
232 runs scored (8.6) and 277 against (10.3)….The single-season
offensive record of 312 runs (10.8) was set in the 15-14 campaign of 1998.