For the week of May 7 - 13, 2003

A wild ride at Sugar City

Softball team goes 2-2, district next

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Yogi Berra’s baseball adage, "It’s not over until it’s over," told much of the story of Wood River High School’s roller-coaster experience at the Sugar City fast-pitch softball tournament last weekend.

Wood River (17-5) lost two games it should have won Friday at Sugar City. Coach Chris Cey’s Wolverines bounced back to claim an improbable extra-inning win Saturday and added one more win for a 2-2 split.

Joni Chatterton lashes out a hit during a home game earlier this season. Chatterton led Wood River in hitting at the Sugar City tournament. Express photo by David N. Seelig

All in all, Wood River learned valuable lessons that could come in handy in the post-season play. Said assistant coach Dale Martin, "We grew up a lot this weekend. We learned you have to have the maturity to play every game."

If 99% of the game is half mental, Wood River went just about crazy with Friday’s developments.

Hailey’s girls lost to Shelley 21-17 in 11 innings and squandered a 4-0 lead in a 6-5 loss to host Sugar-Salem on the grass infield at Sugar City.

"We had Shelley on the ropes. Then we came out flat against Sugar," said Martin.

Leading 13-3 with one out in the fifth, Wood River was on the verge of run-ruling Shelley. But the Russets (18 hits) rallied, tied it in the seventh and scored four runs in the top of the 11th frame to win the longest game of the 2003 campaign.

There were 19 errors in the sloppy contest, 10 by Wood River. Senior Aubrey Kirtley didn’t pitch badly, throwing 145 pitches, but Shelley hit well and the Hailey girls (8 hits) just couldn’t put it away.

"We thought it was going to be a cakewalk when we had the big lead," said Martin.

Later Friday, Wood River (6 hits, 6 errors) built a 4-0 lead against Sugar-Salem but left 15 runners on base and couldn’t get the game-breaking hit. Pitcher Chandin Persaud tired and the Diggers scored two unearned runs to win 6-5.

The weekend nearly turned into a disaster Saturday when Wood River moved over to South Fremont’s field in St. Anthony and played a game that Martin said, "was the weirdest game I’ve ever seen."

Wood River, trailing 4-0 in the first, rallied for a 6-4 lead in the seventh. Host South Fremont put two runners aboard with one out and then a Cougar batter belted a three-run walk-off homer over the 210-foot fence in center field.

South Fremont’s team was ecstatic as their hero rounded the bases. And the Hailey players were completely demoralized as they trudged off the field. As the Cougar runner reached third, however, the coach high-fived her and patted her on the back as she rounded.

As Yogi said, "You can observe a lot by watching."

Wood River catcher Joni Chatterton noticed that the coach had touched the baserunner, a no-no, and she pointed it out to the umpire. The umpire called the South Fremont runner out, which meant the game-winning run hadn’t scored after all.

"It was mass confusion," Martin said. "The call was coach’s interference."

Reliever Persaud, who split the pitching load with starter Kirtley, got the third out and the game into overtime. In the eighth, Kelly Haisley hit a sacrifice fly and Camey Anderson delivered an RBI hit and Wood River (10 hits) won 8-6.

Of course, 99% of the game is half mental. So, having reached a fork in the road, pumped-up Wood River took it—and pounded the ball for a 13-3 run-rule win over Teton in Saturday’s finale, before the rains.

Blowing them down, Persaud (8-2) took a perfect game into the fifth before Teton got a bloop hit and a legitimate hit. Persaud (8 K) wound up with a two-hitter. Koree Hawkes clouted a three-run homer.
For the weekend, Chatterton went 5-for-17 to lead a Wood River hitting attack that wasn’t devastating. But the Wolverines cut their errors down from 10, to 6, to 5, and to none.

Last Tuesday, Wood River (9-0 home) made it a four-game season sweep over the Kimberly Bulldogs with 12-2 and 7-6 wins on the Hailey diamond.

Kirtley (9-3) limited the Bulldogs to two runs and walked none in the six-inning, run-rule opener. In the nightcap, Hailey rallied from a 4-0 deficit and stretched its win streak to five games as Persaud whiffed five and walked none.

Chatterton (4 RBI) went 4-for-6 over two games including a three-run triple. Emily Smith (3 RBI) was 3-for-5, Haisley added three hits while Molly Meyers and Ashley Washburn each contributed two hits.

 

District next

Wood River, which hosted Declo Tuesday in a make-up, was likely to finish the regular season with a 6-2 SCIC mark for second place, behind league-leading Buhl (15-3, 7-1).

The Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference tourney will begin Thursday, May 8 with #5 Declo traveling to Filer or Kimberly.

#2 Wood River will host either Kimberly or Declo Friday, May 9 at 5 p.m. at South Valley Sports Complex in Hailey.

If defending SCIC champion Wood River wins Friday’s opening game of the double elimination tournament, the Wolverines will probably travel to Buhl for the semi-final game Saturday at 11 a.m.

 

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