Wednesday, May 5, 2004

Home cooking agrees with softball team

WRHS rallies past state champ Buhl 3-2

---

Coach Chris Cey didn’t really know what to think about his Wood River High School varsity softball team entering last week’s pivotal eight-game swing of contests, four of them counting in the 2004 SCIC league standings.

He knew the Wolverines had talent and the ability to break out of the tangled Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference pack and earn a home game in this week’s SCIC tournament. But could they perform on the field?

One big factor in Wood River’s favor was the fact that most of last week’s games would be played on its South Valley Sports Complex home diamond—where the Wolverines now boast a 68-25 record over eight years.

And the home cooking certainly agreed with the Wolverines, who won all six of the home games including Saturday’s thrilling 3-2 and 7-6 doubleheader sweep over the defending State 3A champion Buhl Tribe.

The outcomes, including Thursday’s 3-2 and 18-7 sweep over Filer, put Wood River (9-9 overall, 5-2 league) in position to gain a tie with Buhl (14-5, 6-2) for first place in the SCIC tournament that begins Thursday.

"I thought the kids really jelled last week," said Cey.

All Wood River needed to earn a share of first place was a home victory over the resurgent Declo Hornets (11-8, 3-4) Tuesday afternoon in Hailey.

Unfortunately, Wood River lost a coin flip at a conference meeting Monday, so the Wolverines settled for the second SCIC seed regardless of what happened in Tuesday’s meeting against Declo.

But Wood River by virtue of its excellent week of results earned a home game in the SCIC first round. The Wolverines will host either Declo or Kimberly Friday, May 7 at 5 p.m. on the Hailey diamond.

Wood River, which beat Kimberly (8-12, 2-5) by a score of 15-11 in a nine-inning league nailbiter last Tuesday in Hailey, played another extra-inning game and beat Filer 3-2 Thursday. The pitching win belonged to ace Chandin Persaud (10 K, 1 BB), who tossed a four-hitter at the Wildcats.

Rallying from a 2-1 deficit, Wood River won the game with two runs in the eighth. Nikki Calzacorta drove home Tiffany Wheeler with an RBI single, then Emily Smith drew a bases-loaded walk to force home Lisa Nilsen with the game winner.

"It was a great defensive game and both pitchers did great," said Cey about Persaud and Filer’s Dani Hansing, who allowed only four hits. Filer dropped to 10-10, 2-5 SCIC.

Wood River won the non-league nightcap 18-7, a season-high scoring output. Righty Jamie Stone (1-4) earned her first win. Koree Hawkes (triple) and Nilsen (double) led the nine-hit Wolverine bat attack.

Outmatched 10-2 and 11-1 against Skyline at Idaho Falls Friday, Wood River bounced back at home Saturday and rallied past Buhl 3-2—thus avenging an early-season 5-1 loss to Buhl. Once again, Persaud (6-4) earned the pitching victory with a terrific effort.

"It was a good ball game—good pitching and fielding," said Cey.

Trailing 2-1 in the home seventh, Wood River (8 hits) got the runs it needed. Hawkes (2 runs) reached on a hit, Alexa Alberdi (2 hits) singled and Calzacorta delivered another huge RBI single for a 2-2 tie. Then, Wheeler (2 hits) ripped the game-winning RBI single to score Alberdi.

With outfielder/pitcher Ali Sherbine out of town for six games, Wood River gave sophomore Catherine Beck her first varsity start in Saturday’s nightcap, and Beck (1-0) responded with a complete-game effort in Wood River’s 7-6 win.

Again, Wood River rallied.

Down 6-4 in the bottom of the seventh, Wood River (8 hits) never looked back—and Buhl never got an out.

Calzacorta and Wheeler (2 hits) singled and Camey Anderson (2 hits, RBI double) unloaded a two-run single for a 6-6 tie. With the sacks still loaded with Wolverines, Barbara Coleman rapped a bouncing ball that scored Emily Smith with the winner.

It was another close game for Wood River (6-5 in games settled by 3 of fewer runs). The Wolverines have a 5-1 record in one-run games in 2004.

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.