Legion reaches 40
wins, Reynoso leading the way
Four wins, fourth
place at district tourney
Jumping
on the broad shoulders of Ryne Reynoso and letting his bat and arm lead
the way, the Wood River American Legion baseball team won four games at
last week’s Area C "A" tournament and reached 40 wins for
the first time in the program’s history.
Ryne
Reynoso, Wood River ace pitcher and outfielder, gets ready to hammer
another pitch during a Founders Field game this summer. Reynoso batted
.600 in the recent district tournament and finished the season with 77
RBI in his 47 games. Express photo by David N. Seelig
Wood
River (40-20) battled and fought over four days in the 14-team
tournament at Idaho Falls. The Wolverines played to the final inning of
the final day and came within a bloop hit and a quick steal from
qualifying for the state tournament.
Clean-up
hitter Reynoso went 12-for-20 (.600) in six games with six extra-base
hits, nine runs and 10 RBI. On the mound he pitched in four of the six
games, went 2-2 and threw 18 2/3 of Wood River’s 39 innings—whiffing
22 and allowing eight runs.
Coach
Lars Hovey said, "Ryno basically threw us on his shoulders and
carried us. He really was THE factor, and he played that role more and
more as the season went on."
Only two
excruciating losses to nemesis Marsh Falls, by scores of 2-1 and 6-5
with Reynoso on the hill in both, prevented Wood River from making state
for only the fourth time in the program’s 28 seasons. Wood River
finished fourth, and only the top three teams qualified for state.
Taking
only 12 players and playing without its best hitter in Paul Tinker
(abroad with a traveling baseball team in Australia), Wood River piled
up 40 runs in six games (6.7) and used terrific pitching to allow only
17 runs on defense (2.8).
Hovey
said, "The guys never mentioned the absence of Tinker, just as they
didn’t mention the absence of Ryno when he was gone a couple of weeks
before the tournament. They just went out and battled as hard as I’ve
ever seen a team battle."
Following
the example of veterans like Reynoso, Kellen Chatterton, Tinker and Matt
Conover, Wood River’s young players found their footing in the last
six weeks. In that span, Wood River was an incredible 30-8 with a 21-7
record on the road.
"We
lost a talented group of seniors who were the core to our high school
season," Hovey said. "We thought we could pick up the slack
right away, but we started the season slowly—as we realized just how
much those seniors had contributed.
"As
the season went on we realized we could compete with the top teams. Our
younger kids got some huge innings because we stayed with our objective
of working toward next year. As a team we accomplished a lot. It would
have been a bonus to make state, but we came very close."
Top-seeded
Jerome (30-21) won the district tournament for the first time in 20
years with a 12-2 victory over the Cinderella team, the #14-ranked Teton
Snow Devils (6-43). Teton upset #3 Buhl, #6 Burley and #2 Bear Lake to
make the title game.
#4 Marsh
Falls (44-19), winner of five games in six meetings with Wood River,
ousted three-time defending champ Buhl (30-11) by a score of 11-8 Friday
then nosed out Wood River 6-5 Saturday on Morgan Colonel’s two-out
flare single.
It was an
all-too-familiar ending to a season for Wood River. Marsh Falls
eliminated the Wolverines from last year’s Legion district tournament
and a state berth by a single run, and a comparable American Falls squad
ousted Wood River from the State 3A high school tournament 12-8 May 25.
Windy first day
Wednesday’s
windy first day of action on three Idaho Falls diamonds featured a bunch
of close games—six one-run games out of the 10 played. #14 Teton upset
#3 Buhl 8-7 and #13 Kimberly lost 4-3 to #4 Marsh Falls.
Wood
River played in two nailbiters, just beating #12 Twin Falls 4-3 and
losing 2-1 to Marsh Falls.
Twin
Falls scratched out three unearned runs against Wolverine starter Steve
Hansen and threatened to add to its 3-0 lead in the fourth, but Wood
River center fielder Joe Paisley made a great diving catch to strand two
runners and keep Hailey close.
Hansen
drew a two-out walk in the home fourth and scored on an RBI double by
Conover (2 hits), who scampered home on an error. Reynoso’s leadoff
homer in the fifth tied the game 3-3. He also entered the game as a
reliever and tossed three innings of two-hit, scoreless ball.
Reynoso
(3 hits) opened the home seventh with a single. Paisley, the next
batter, laid down a sacrifice bunt. When Twin Falls pitcher Matt Sherman
overthrew first base, Reynoso raced home with the winner.
Wednesday’s
afternoon battle with Marsh Falls with the first of two classic pitching
duels between Reynoso and righty Morgan Colonel.
The first
four innings were scoreless, although two Marsh Falls double plays
rubbed out a pair of bases-loaded Wolverine threats. In the fifth,
Conover singled and scored on an Eagles throwing error, 1-0.
In a
tightly-played game, the decisive runs were scored in the home fifth.
With two outs, Eagles leadoff batter Tony Brulotte singled. Reynoso
nearly had Colonel whiffed on a 3-2 pitch, but the umpire saw it
otherwise and Colonel walked.
Zach
Wagstaff singled Brulotte home for a 1-1 tie and Colonel went to third
base. With runners on the corners and clean-up hitter Cameron Nelson at
bat, Marsh Falls pulled a quick steal—Wagstaff breaking early for
second. Reynoso threw to Conover, who relayed it home. But the throw was
a little off target and Colonel slid head first around the tag.
Ball
game, in 92 minutes. Wood River out-hit Marsh Falls 9-6 but the Eagles
got the runs when needed and Colonel didn’t allow an earned run.
The road back
Wood
River resumed its state quest in the loser bracket Thursday, beating
host Idaho Falls 16-3 in five innings behind a 14-hit attack. Drew
Detwiler (5-4) got the pitching win and Kellen Kinghorn (4-for-4) ripped
four RBI singles from the #8 slot.
The
Wolverines sent 10 batters to the plate in a six-run first, and Idaho
Falls committed four of its six errors in that opening frame. Hansen had
a big two-run double in the big inning. Reynoso (3 runs) drilled a
two-run triple in Hailey’s three-run second.
Other
hitters: Detwiler (2 hits, 3 runs), Kellen Chatterton and Joe Paisley (3
runs each), Steve Durkin (2 hits, 2 RBI). Shortstop Durkin had a busy
game (6 assists, 1 putout) and Detwiler scattered 10 Rangers hits.
Wood
River needed two wins Friday to give itself a chance to make state
through the back door—and the Wolverines got them, beating Upper
Valley 11-1 and Bear Lake 3-2.
Winning
pitcher Tyler Thiede (3-2) and reliever Hansen throttled Upper Valley on
three hits. Wood River (12 hits) ended the game in the sixth on the
10-run rule.
Leading
hitters were Reynoso (2 hits, 3 runs, 2 RBI) Dylan McIlhenny (3 hits),
Chatterton (2 hits, 2 runs) and Durkin (2 hits, 2 runs).
The
loser-out afternoon game between Wood River and #2-seeded Bear Lake
(30-13) was destined to be a good one. The teams split two games in
Hailey July 22, Bear Lake pitcher Chase Hulme beating Wood River 11-2 in
the opener.
Hulme
pitched another solid game, in the first six frames allowing only a
leadoff homer by Conover and a two-out third inning rally that featured
a double by Chatterton (2 hits) and RBI single by Reynoso (3 hits, 2
RBI).
But
Hansen matched Hulme.
In four
clutch innings of work Hansen enticed a bunch of grounders and allowed
only three hits and one run. Reynoso relieved him in the fifth and
surrendered one unearned run for a 2-2 tie in the home sixth, but
Reynoso escaped further damage by starting a bases-loaded double play.
Hansen’s
leadoff single in the visitor seventh ignited the game-winning rally. He
was at third, with two outs, when Reynoso lifted a major league pop fly
that fell between two Bear Lake players and scored Hansen. Then Reynoso
(10-5) retired Bear Lake in the home seventh.
One more
dandy pitching match-up between Reynoso and Morgan Colonel of Marsh
Falls was the highlight of Saturday’s third-place game, which
determined the area’s third and final representative to the State
"A" Legion meet in Boise.
Marsh
Falls had sidetracked Wood River’s state hopes with a 4-3 win in the
same game at last year’s district tournament held in Pocatello. This
match-up also went to the wire.
Wood
River struck first.
In the
first inning Detwiler was hit by a pitch, Chatterton singled, Reynoso
walked and Durkin (2 hits) delivered a two-run single. Marsh Falls got
one back when leadoff hitter Brulotte doubled and scored.
Reynoso
flied out with the bases loaded and two outs in the second, but Wood
River crept ahead 3-1 in the third on Hansen’s bouncing ball that sent
home an unearned run.
Resilient
Marsh Falls responded with three straight two-out hits in the third,
Cameron Nelson doubling and scoring for a 3-2 game. Another two-out
Eagles uprising in the fifth gave Marsh Falls its first lead at 4-3,
Tyron Walker belting a two-run double.
In the
sixth, Marsh Falls added insurance on Brulotte’s two-out RBI double
for a 5-3 lead. With his team down to its final two outs, Reynoso belted
a two-run homer in the visitor seventh and tied the game 5-5.
But Marsh
Falls was tougher with its backs to the wall. Again, with two outs, they
put a runner aboard when Reynoso plunked Walker—only the second free
pass issued by Reynoso. Walker stole second and scooted to third on an
overthrow.
Up to the
plate came Colonel, who had whiffed three times. He finally connected
and punched a soft blooper over first base that delivered Walker with
the winning run and sent Marsh Falls (44-19) to its fifth win in six
tries against Wood River this season.
In the
pitching match-up, Reynoso (13 Ks) and Colonel each allowed nine hits.
But Colonel worked a little harder, battling out of jams as Wood River
left seven in scoring position.
LEGION
NOTES—Including the 2002 high school season and Legion campaign,
Hovey’s two teams were a combined 63-27 (.700) including 14-game and
13-game winning streaks. It was the most single-season wins (23) in high
school history, and the most wins (40) in Legion annals. Wood River was
a combined 30-3 at home.
Wood
River’s six Legion games against Marsh Falls were decided by a grand
total of 12 runs. Marsh Falls won the final five games between the teams….The
Hailey squad was 8-6 in 1-run decisions, 9-10 in tournaments…Wood
River had 61 hits in six tournament games, but also made 17 errors…
Reynoso
(16-7 in two Legion seasons) finished up with 91 innings pitched. He
allowed 71 hits, 35 earned runs and whiffed 126….At the plate the
regional 3A high school "Player of the Year," banged out 65
hits (11 HR, 7 triples, 12 doubles) in 153 at-bats (.424) with 56 runs
scored and 77 RBI….Leading Wolverine hitter Tinker (.435) had 68 hits
and 66 RBI for the year. Catcher Kellen Chatterton led the team in total
hits, doubles and triples. He was hit by 24 pitches.
The
Wolverines (9.3 runs offense, 5.6 defense) scored 10 or more runs in 29
of 60 contests….Their runs scored and runs against were virtually
identical to last year’s 30-13-1 team, which was 10-4 in its
tournaments....Wood River’s five-year Legion record is 161-73-1
(.685).
Final
pitching records were Steve Hansen 9-4, Ryne Reynoso 10-5, Dylan
McIlhenny 5-2, Drew Detwiler 5-4, Tyler Thiede 3-2, Kellen Chatterton
2-0, Brady Femling 2-0, Jeff Hunter 2-1, Joe Paisley 2-1 and Tyson
Reynoso 0-1….Jerome last won a Legion district tournament title in
1982.