Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Down to the wire for softball girls

Thrillers in SCIC tournament

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They played two of the best games they’ve had all season last week, but Wood River High School softball players will need a couple more big games this week for a return to the State 3A tournament.

Wood River (11-11), seeded second in the Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference tournament, beat #3 Declo 6-2 Friday and lost a thrilling 4-3 eight-inning game to #1 seeded defending state champion Buhl Saturday.

Nikki Calzacorta, Wood River High School senior who was a state champion pole vaulter for Gooding last spring, has provided a big boost for the Wolverine softball team in left field and in the leadoff spot. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Pitching both games for Wood River and doing an outstanding job was senior righthander Chandin Persaud.

She threw a seven-hitter at Declo and whiffed eight, then turned around 24 hours later and pitched eight strong frames with 10 Ks against Buhl. In 15 innings of tournament play, she yielded four earned runs.

"It was the best ball game we’ve been in this year," said Wood River coach Chris Cey about Saturday’s great pitching duel between Persaud and Buhl’s Whitney Ordonez.

The outcomes gave Wood River at least one more shot in the five-team double elimination SCIC tourney.

That loser-out game is scheduled for today, Wednesday at 5 p.m. at South Valley Sports Complex in Hailey where the Wolverines have an 8-3 record this year and are 70-26 over the last eight seasons.

Wood River will play the winner of Tuesday’s rescheduled game between #4-seeded Filer (12-12) and #5 Kimberly (10-14). Wood River is 3-0 against Filer, squeaking out 5-4 and 3-2 eight-inning wins in the league match-ups. The Wolverines are 2-0 against Kimberly.

The winner of today’s loser-out contest will visit Buhl Thursday for the 4 p.m. SCIC title game and will have to beat the Tribe twice to claim the league title and an automatic trip to the State 3A tourney May 20-22 in Coeur d’Alene.

Whichever team finishes second in the SCIC will travel to a state play-in game Saturday, May 15 at 1 p.m. at Glenns Ferry against the runner-up team from the Third District (Boise Valley). And the winner of Saturday’s game qualifies for another state berth.

Against Declo (12-11) Friday, Wood River put together back-to-back three-run innings in the third and fourth and rode Persaud’s 64-pitch seven-hitter to the 6-2 triumph.

Shortstop Jamie Stone (3-for-3, 3 RBI) belted an RBI single in the three-run third and added a two-out, two-run single in the fourth. Emily Smith and Tiffany Wheeler (2 runs) each added two hits to the 10-hit attack, and Nikki Calzacorta scored twice. Camey Anderson added an RBI single.

Wood River had won three straight close games over Buhl entering Saturday’s showdown on the Tribe diamond. Buhl went ahead 2-0 after four, Wood River tied it 2-2 in the fifth, Buhl grabbed a 3-2 lead and the Wolverines again tied it 3-3 in the sixth.

The Wolverines didn’t score in eighth—an inning when both teams get a chance to score a runner from second base—then Buhl’s Abbe Reynolds cracked a two-out RBI single in the home half to lift Buhl 4-3. Buhl out-hit Wood River 10-5 on the day.

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