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Produced & Maintained by Idaho Mountain Express, Box 1013, Ketchum, ID 83340-1013 
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Copyright © 2002 Express Publishing Inc.
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For the week of June 12 - 18, 2002

  Sports

Youth movement pays dividends for Legion

Wood River rallies past Eagles 6-5 in eight innings


The youth movement paid off in a big way for the Wood River American Legion baseball team in the final game of the Wood River Invitational wood bat tournament Sunday at Founders Field in Hailey.

First-year players Dylan McIlhenny and Kellen Kinghorn delivered clutch two-out hits in a three-run Wood River sixth inning and the home team went on to beat Marsh Falls 6-5 in eight innings.

The winning pitcher with four innings of shutout and no-hit relief was righthanded ace Ryne Reynoso (2-1), who also pitched Wood River to a tournament-opening 7-2 win over Blackfoot Friday afternoon.

Wood River and Marsh Falls both entered the final game of the three-day, five-team round-robin tourney with 3-0 records, meaning bragging rights for the tournament championship were on the line.

The teams also had some history.

Marsh Falls was comprised of players from American Falls, a team that eliminated Wood River from the State 3A baseball tournament three weeks ago. And Marsh Falls ousted Wood River from the 2001 Area C "A" Legion district tournament with a 4-3 win last August in Pocatello.

So Wood River’s dramatic extra-inning victory which extended the Hailey squad’s winning streak to five games exacted some sweet revenge on coach Jim Chandler’s Eagles.

They’ll see each other again—possibly at the Marsh Falls tournament June 28-30 in American Falls and again when Wood River visits American Falls for two league games against the Eagles July 19.

 

6-5 championship game triumph

Marsh Falls won its first three games of last weekend’s tourney—beating Salmon 8-4, Kimberly 8-2 and Blackfoot 8-1. After beating Blackfoot, Wood River downed Salmon 6-3 and Kimberly 13-4.

The pitching staffs were pretty well exhausted by Sunday afternoon, so Wood River sent Kellen Chatterton to the mound. Normally the team’s catcher, Chatterton did a good job for coach Hovey and carried a 2-1 lead into the fourth inning.

Marsh Falls got singles from its 6-7-8 batters and a two-run double by leadoff hitter Tony Brulotte. Things looked awfully bad for Wood River when Morgan Colonel, bound for Treasure Valley Community College, hit a bouncer back to the box.

Chatterton gloved the ball and showed great instincts by hanging baserunner Brulotte out to dry with a pickle-starting throw to second. Then, after applying the tag, third baseman Paul Tinker noticed Colonel straying off first base. He made a quick throw and Colonel got hung up as well.

Double play.

In a flash, Wood River went from no outs, a runner on second and a 5-2 deficit, to two outs and nobody on. Chatterton whiffed the next batter to end the Eagles rally. Marsh Falls never got another runner past second.

Breathing a sigh of relief, coach Hovey decided that Chatterton’s successful pitching stint was done and he summoned Reynoso when the Eagles came to bat in the fifth.

Right fielder McIlhenny made a fine running catch for the first out and Reynoso was on his way. In four innings, Reynoso allowed no hits, struck out six and walked only two.

The question was, could Wood River score off of Marsh Falls righty sidearm pitcher Nick Adamson? Adamson enticed ground balls from Wood River’s 1-2-3 batters and carried a 5-2 lead into the home sixth.

Leadoff batter Reynoso (2 hits) beat out an infield hit in the sixth. With one out, Joe Paisley hit a grounder to Adamson in the box. Marsh Falls nearly turned a 1-6-3 double play, but Paisley beat the throw to first to keep the inning alive.

McIlhenny (2 hits) stroked his second straight single to right field. Stepping to the plate was Kinghorn, a sophomore with precious little playing time at the varsity level. Kinghorn (2 hits) drilled a long fly ball that carried over the right fielder’s head for a two-run triple.

Still trailing 5-4, Wood River needed another hit and got it from Chatterton, who brought Kinghorn home for a 5-5 tie with an RBI single.

Marsh Falls and Wood River both threatened but couldn’t score in the seventh, then Reynoso retired the Eagles 1-2-3 in the eighth.

Another two-out rally gave Wood River (out-hitting Marsh Falls 12-6) the victory in the home eighth.

Chatterton (2 hits) ripped a grounder that took a bad hop and bounced off the third baseman’s chest for an infield single. Leadoff batter Drew Detwiler was hit by a pitch. Steve Durkin drew an extremely important walk on a 3-2 pitch.

Tinker (3 hits) stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and delivered a game-winning ground ball single up the middle. Steve Hansen, pinch running for Chatterton, trotted home from third with the winning run.

There was considerably less drama in Wood River’s other three wins.

Friday, Reynoso (9 Ks) was in command the whole way with a 124-pitch effort in the 7-2 complete-game win over Blackfoot—his first win of the young Legion campaign.

He struggled a little with control, walking seven, but Reynoso held the Broncos scoreless for the first six frames before giving up a couple of meaningless runs in the seventh.

An RBI grounder by Tinker, a double by Reynoso (2 hits) and an RBI single by Chatterton (2 hits, 2 RBI) gave Wood River a 2-0 lead in the first. Two leadoff walks led to two more runs and a 4-0 lead in the third.

That was all Reynoso needed. Wood River played errorless ball and out-hit Blackfoot 9-6 led by Matt Conover (2 hits). Shortstop Durkin reached base four times and scored twice. Paisley and McIlhenny added infield hits, and Conover and Durkin turned a fine double play in the fifth.

Saturday, Steve Hansen (2-0) got the pitching win in the 6-3 success over Salmon. Wood River took the lead 4-3 with a three-run second. Paisley (2 hits, 2 runs) singled, McIlhenny walked, Jeff Hunter delivered a one-out, two-run single and Tinker added an RBI single.

Righthander Detwiler (1-0) earned his first win with a complete-game four-hitter in the 13-4 afternoon triumph over Kimberly (3-4, 1-2) Saturday. It counted as Wood River’s first league win of the 2002 season.

Wood River (10 hits) sent up 12 batters in its decisive six-run fourth. Durkin ended up scoring four times. Reynoso belted two triples and scored three runs. Tinker, a hot hitter during the tournament, added two hits.

In other tourney games, Blackfoot (2-2 tournament) beat Salmon 7-6 and Kimberly 13-4; and Kimberly (1-3) won 2-1 over Salmon (0-4).

 


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