For the week of May 21 - 27, 2003

2-0, 7-6 wins lift Hailey into state softball

Kirtley’s pitching, hitting leads Hailey

---

By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

You always like to have your seniors playing their best when it counts the most—and that’s exactly what Aubrey Kirtley did for the Wood River High School softball team last week.

Last Tuesday, senior righty Kirtley (12-5, 22-8 career) threw the first seven-inning shutout of her three-year varsity career as Wood River eliminated Filer 2-0 in a loser-out game of the five-team Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference fast-pitch tournament on the Hailey field.

The outcome gave Wood River a chance to make the State 3A tourney. That’s just what the Wolverines did Saturday with a thrilling 7-6 extra-inning win over Fruitland in a state play-in at Glenns Ferry.

And the hero of Saturday’s state-qualifying game was none other than Aubrey Kirtley.

Kirtley (2 hits) drove a two-out, two-strike double over the center fielder’s head to score Ashley Washburn (4-for-5) with the winning run in the 7-6 win.

Coach Chris Cey’s Wolverines (21-7) advanced to the eight-team State 3A tournament starting Thursday, May 22 at Ward Park in Pocatello. Wood River opens against South Fremont of St. Anthony, a team the Wolverines beat 8-6 in eight innings back on May 3.

Both Cey and Wood River assistant coach Dale Martin are optimistic about Wood River’s chances this weekend.

It will be the fourth state trip in Wolverine annals, and second in a row. Last year at Buhl the Hailey girls exited early with state losses to Preston and Timberlake. "Last year we tried not to lose," said Martin.

"The pressure is off now because we got to state," said Martin. "We feel like we’ve got a better bracket than (Fourth District champion) Buhl. And we have the best two pitchers and catchers around in Aubrey and Joni Chatterton."

Last year, Lakeland (20-1) won its second straight state title 6-0 over Preston (19-9). Other first-round games Thursday are Middleton vs. Marsh Valley at 3 p.m., and Buhl vs. Lakeland and Timberlake vs. Preston at 5 p.m.

 

Exciting play-in games

Wood River won both of the games it needed to win last week in order to make state.

Tuesday against Filer, Kirtley and Wildcat righty Janae Hymas had a dynamite pitching duel.

Kirtley (5 K, 0 BB) threw 87 pitches, 70 for strikes, and allowed four hits. Hymas (6 K, 3 BB, 4 hits) was wilder, throwing 113 pitches in six, 74 for strikes.

Freezing Filer batters with calculated patience before she delivered a pitch, Kirtley didn’t allow a runner to second in the final four innings.

Although Wood River relied on veterans like Kirtley, Chatterton and shortstop Molly Meyers (celebrating her 18th birthday) in Tuesday’s victory, the Wolverines banked their hopes on youth as well.

Freshman Jamie Stone moved over from right field to center when junior Emily Smith was suspended from the team due to a code of conduct violation. Junior Koree Hawkes went to right. Making her varsity debut at first base was freshman Lauren Parsons.

"A couple of freshmen came in and did an outstanding job," said Cey. "It was Lauren’s first game ever. But the kids had confidence in her."

Wood River struck first in the home third when, with one out, leadoff hitter Washburn legged out an infield hit and second baseman Kelly Haisley drew a walk. Chatterton belted a hard line drive that glanced off the right fielder’s glove and scored Washburn for a 1-0 lead.

The Wolverines benefited from solid fielding led by shortstop Meyers (4 assists).

They cut down a potential Filer run in the second on a relay from Stone to Kirtley to Chatterton. Hawkes made two fine running catches in right. Parsons made all the plays at first, at one point taking a hard Hymas liner off her hand and tagging the bag for the out.

Wood River pushed across an insurance run in the home sixth.

Hawkes led off with a line drive single. Stone reached on an error, but Filer retired the next two Hailey batters. With two outs, Washburn drew a walk on four pitches. The bases were loaded when Haisley hit a grounder to short, but speedy Washburn beat the force-out throw to second and Hawkes scored for a 2-0 game.

Wood River finished the 2003 season with a school-record unbeaten mark of 12-0 at South Valley Sports Complex—where Wolverine teams have a 62-23 record over seven years.

After Wood River lost the district title game 9-2 at Buhl Wednesday, the Hailey squad was forced to a loser-goes-home state play-in game against Fruitland. The Wolverines had lost their only previous state play-in, 4-3 to Weiser in 2001.

"It was a strange game," said Martin. "We were ahead 2-0, then we gave them eight outs—with four errors and three unearned runs—in the fourth." Indeed, Wood River ended up with 10 errors for the game, to Fruitland’s six miscues.

Fruitland started getting to Kirtley and scored two runs in the sixth for a 5-4 lead. The situation was dire, bases loaded with one out, and pitching coach Martin thought about taking Kirtley out in favor of junior Chandin Persaud.

"I went out and talked to Aubrey. She was having none of it. She said, I can do it, I’ve just got to hit my spots. I asked Joni what she thought, and Joni told me that Aubrey was throwing just as hard as she was at the start of the game."

So Kirtley stayed in and got out of the jam, then blew Fruitland down in the seventh. Meanwhile, Wood River had manufactured a run after a leadoff Washburn single in the sixth and had tied the game 5-5.

The extra inning was played under the hurry-up international tiebreaker format, whereby each team starts the eighth with a runner at second base with three outs to score.

Fruitland scored once in the eighth, but center fielder Stone prevented further damage with a great shoestring catch on a looping drive. "I didn’t think Jamie had a chance for it," said Martin. "It saved two runs."

Parsons started the home eighth with a successful two-strike bunt, for first and third. Washburn then delivered a game-tying RBI single with two strikes. Then, with runners at first and second and two out, Kirtley belted the game winner that was similar to her game-winning drive to center in a 6-5 home win over Filer May 9.

Wood River, which has a 9-3 record in games decided by two runs or less this season, finished with 14 hits including two by Hawkes.

 

WOLVERINE NOTES—Kirtley became Wood River’s all-time pitching leader, with a 22-8 record from 2001-03. Debbie Rubel was 20-10 from 1996-99. Amanda Engel was 14-8 and Stefani Miller 14-10. Junior Chandin Persaud at 9-2 could climb in the ranks in the next year.

Wood River had a tough time against Filer in the first four years of fast pitch, going 5-12 against the ‘Cats from 1996-99. However, the tables have turned. Wood River is now 15-4 against Filer from 2000-03 and has won 13 straight games.

The Wolverines reached 20 wins for the fourth time in school history. Last year’s team was 20-8 and Wood River ended up 20-7 in 1999. The 1997 squad was 21-9 and a school-record offensive average of 12.8.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.