For the week of May 15 - 21, 2002

Home cooking mighty tasty for ball teams

SCIC tourneys start well for WRHS

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They worked very hard all season to earn the home field advantage in the Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference (SCIC) softball and baseball district tournaments.

Aubrey Kirtley, Wood River junior pitcher, mows down Filer in Friday’s SCIC game. Express photo by Willy Cook

Wood River High School players weren’t about to give up on the tasty home cooking when the 2002 tourneys opened last weekend at Founders Field and South Valley Sports Complex in Hailey.

Wood River’s top-seeded baseball team (21-5) improved its home mark to 12-0 with two easy wins. Coach Lars Hovey’s Wolverines handled #4-seeded Kimberly 10-3 Friday and run-ruled #2 Buhl 11-1 Saturday.

The Wolverines hosted upset-minded Kimberly Tuesday in the district title game, fully intending to win their third district banner in four years. Visiting Kimberly upset Buhl 9-8 Monday.

Check the game story on today’s Express Web site.

Matt Conover, Wood River junior second baseman, has provided a big lift at the plate and in the field. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Wood River’s #1-seeded softball team was just as dominant in its tournament.

Coach Chris Cey’s Hailey squad (19-6, 9-3 home) walloped #4-seeded Filer 20-4 Friday and took care of defending champ Kimberly 5-1 Saturday.

What a memorable year it’s been! In its 17 SCIC games this year, Wood River boasts an amazing 16-1 mark, outscoring opponents 216 to 58.

Wood River hosts the district championship game today, Wednesday at 5 p.m. at South Valley Sports Complex. They’ll be looking for their first district title since 1998, when they beat Buhl 18-0 in Hailey.

At stake for the SCIC tournament winners: Automatic berths in the State 3A baseball and softball tournaments May 23-25.

 

Founders Field success

Junior righthander Ryne Reynoso (7-1, 11-3 career) tossed a two-hitter at Buhl in Saturday’s 11-1 victory. He whiffed eight Tribesmen, walked none and didn’t allow an earned run in six innings.

Wood River gave Reynoso all the runs he needed by pushing across three unearned runs in the first frame.

Kellen Chatterton, Wood River junior catcher, looks for a sign. Chatterton has deftly handled the Wolverine pitching staff. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Matt Conover (2 hits, 2 runs) opened with a leadoff double. Nic Nottingham (3 hits, 2 RBI) added a two-out RBI single and Drew Detwiler a long run-scoring triple.

Buhl ace Tim Bourner pitched well, allowing two earned runs in five innings. Trailing 5-1, Buhl replaced him in the sixth and the reliever never got an out. Hailey batted around, scoring six runs on six hits and three walks.

Others contributing to the 13-hit Hailey attack were Reynoso (2 hits), Paul Tinker (2 hits, 2 RBI) and catcher Kellen Chatterton (2 hits).

Friday, Kimberly (6-17-2) played one of its best games, holding Wood River to a 3-2 lead in the fifth. Joe Molyneux’s triple in the second followed by RBI singles by Tyler Corrock and Reynoso made it 3-0.

A leadoff triple by Tinker (3 hits, 2 runs) fueled a three-run uprising in the fifth for a 6-2 cushion.

Wood River added four in the sixth for its 10-3 win on a leadoff single by Conover (2 hits, 3 runs) and an RBI double by Reynoso (2 hits, 2 RBI) followed by RBI doubles by Jeff Bolton (2 hits, 2 RBI) and Chatterton.

B.J. Adams (left) is greeted after her leadoff homer that ignited Wood River’s 20-4 win over Filer Friday. She gets the glad hand from, left to right, Aspen Wenglikowski, Mollie Meyers and Aubrey Kirtley. Express photo by Willy Cook

Senior Matt Beck (9-1) tossed a six-hitter with six whiffs for his seventh straight victory on the hill. It was a great day for the top four Wolverine batters, who went 9-for-14 to spearhead the 12-hit Hailey attack.

The only downer for Wood River in its first two tourney games was on defense—five errors against Kimberly and three against Buhl.

Last Tuesday, Reynoso (11 Ks) pitched Wood River to a 10-4 season-ending home triumph over Wendell. He added four RBIs at the plate.

 

Bats, pitching for softball

Big bats and solid pitching were big factors for Wood River softball.

Senior B.J. Adams set the tone Friday with a leadoff homer in Wood River’s 20-4 romp over Filer. Adams (3 hits, 3 runs, 4 RBI) was on fire.

But everybody was pounding the ball as Wood River piled up 15 hits in only four at-bats. Left fielder Kristin Lyons was the most productive, driving home six runs with three hits.

Adding to the onslaught were catcher Ashley Nilsen (3 hits), first baseman Amanda Engel (2 hits, 3 runs), right fielder Ashley Washburn (2 hits, 3 runs) and DH Tiffany Wheeler (2 RBI).

Junior Aubrey Kirtley (9-2) held Filer to four hits and allowed only two earned runs in the run-rule win.

Saturday, Wood River faced its biggest challenge when #2-seeded Kimberly (15-8) rolled into Hailey with its ace pitcher Kayla Lundy. Lundy had tamed Wood River 1-0 on her last visit to Hailey, on April 30.

Lundy pitched another solid game but her defense (5 errors) failed her. Meanwhile, Wood River senior Amanda Engel (8-3) was excellent. She yielded only four hits, struck out five Bulldogs and issued only two free passes in the 5-1 Wolverine win.

Joni Chatterton reached on an error and scored on a ground ball by shortstop Laurel Williams in the first.

A leadoff single by right fielder Kirtley (2 runs) followed by a single by Engel (2 hits, 2 runs) set the stage for a two-run single by Kristin Lyons and a 3-0 Hailey lead in the second.

When Kimberly threatened in the sixth, installing a runner at third and putting the tying run at the plate, Engel started a timely double play that effectively ended the ‘Dog hopes.

She gloved a grounder up the middle, held the runner at third and threw to first baseman Nilsen for the out. Nilsen saw the Bulldog runner breaking for home and fired a strike to catcher Chatterton, who applied the tag to complete the twin killing.

Fired up, Wood River got two insurance runs in the home sixth on an RBI double by Engel and an RBI grounder by Kristin Lyons (3 RBI, 9 RBI over two games). Kimberly then went quietly, 1-2-3 in the seventh.

"Lundy pitched real well. She was the fastest I’ve seen her," said Wood River coach Cey, aware that his team—winners of 13 of its last 14 games—might be facing Lundy again today in the district title game.

 

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