Friday — May 14, 2004

A shiver runs though it

Spine-tingling win for Wood River in SCIC softball tilt

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The Wood River softball team is getting pretty good at this extra-inning stuff.

In an SCIC loser-out contest in Hailey Wednesday, the Wolverines came from behind to beat Kimberly 5-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning.

It was the fifth time this season the Wolverines have played extra innings and their fourth victory.

The victory gave the Wolverines a slot in the district championship against Buhl Thursday. Wood River needed to win both games against the Tribe to claim the district crown. The loser will face the District 3 runner-up in a play-in game at Glenns Ferry at 1 p.m. Saturday.

All that was far from the Wolverines minds against Kimberly Wednesday. Hailey trailed 3-1 heading into the home seventh and coach Chris Cey was preparing his consolation speech.

The fork was stuck back in the drawer, though, because the Wolverines weren’t quite done.

Nikki Calzacorta breathed life into the squad, punching a single and Tiffany Wheeler (3-for-4) followed up with an RBI double to make it 3-2.

Wheeler made it to third, but after a sac bunt and pop fly there were two outs.

"I was pretty worried," Cey admitted. "I was rehearsing what to say to the kids if we lost."

Jamie Stone (2 hits) knocked those words right out of Cey’s head with one clean swing of the bat. Stone roped a 2-0 pitch to left-center to plate the game-tying run and send it to extra innings.

"I was pretty relieved," Cey said. "Those speeches are tough."

In the extra-inning format, each team starts with a runner at second base. Kimberly’s runner scored on two passed balls, but then Hailey pitcher Chandin Persaud (7K) buckled down and struck out two batters and enticed a 6-3 putout.

Trailing 4-3, Wood River put Stone on second and she stole third. Persaud walked to give Hailey runners at first and third and Kimberly intentionally walked Ali Sherbine to load the bases. It didn’t pan out for the Bulldogs, however.

Koree Hawkes (2 hits) belted a single to score Stone and tie the game.

Then Cey tabbed pinch hitter Barbara Ann Coleman to bat.

"She was freezing to death, but she pulled it off," he said.

Not without a little drama, though. Facing a full count, Coleman clobbered a fastball into centerfield to plate the winning run and prevail 5-4.

"It was a roller coaster ride," Cey said after the game.

"It’s hard to stay up for that long, but they did it. We’ve played in a lot of tough games this year. For some reason we kind of put off putting it together until the end."

The Wolverines won despite committing six errors. Kimberly played a flawless game, but was outhit by Hailey 11-6.

Cey remarked, "They just did not make mistakes, but we had the right things happen at the right times."

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