Close games were the rule last weekend during the second annual Troy Hansen Memorial prep baseball tournament for eight teams in Preston, Idaho.
Hailey's Wood River High School won two games and made it to Saturday's championship game where the Wolverines fell to host Preston 7-6.
It was a rematch of last year's State 3A tournament semi-final game won by eventual runner-up Preston 4-2.
Wood River (17-7) also defeated Filer 15-3 in five innings and Bear Lake 4-1 in seven frames, and the Wolverines dropped their opener 7-5 to Century of Pocatello Friday.
Game Most Valuable Players were Tyson Reynoso, Steve Hansen and Tyler Thiede.
The tournament was a good tune-up for eight teams heading into upcoming district competitions. "We had a lot of really good ball games," said Preston coach Mike Hansen.
Preston (14-10) might play Wood River again. The Indians opened their district tournament Tuesday at home against Pocatello, with the winner traveling to #1-seeded Century.
Out of 14 games played over two days, there were seven one-run barn-burners and 10 games settled by two runs or fewer.
Friday, Wood River ace Hansen (4-3) whiffed 12 Diamondbacks in five innings but Century won the Great Basin Conference tiebreaking game 7-5. WR coach Lars Hovey said, "We came out flat and didn't execute against Century."
Later Friday the Wolverines banged out 14 hits and battered Filer 15-3 in a run-rule contest. "We got up for Filer and swung the bats well," said Hovey.
The game's star was righty Thiede (3-1), who limited Filer to just a pair of third-inning singles. Top hitters were Hansen (3 hits, 2 runs, 3 RBI), Morgan Uhrig (2 hits and 2 runs), Billy Kramer (2 hits) and Casey Hawkes (3 hits, 2 runs).
Said Hovey, "Tyler threw great against Filer."
Hansen ripped an RBI double in the four-run first and Hawkes and Ted Dankanyin added RBI singles. Huston Brashears drilled a two-run single in the six-run second. Hansen had a two-out, two-run double in the five-run fourth.
Saturday, Wood River shaded Bear Lake 4-1 behind the combined two-hit pitching of Kenny Cardona and Ted Dankanyin. Hawkes (2 runs) delivered Dankanyin with a two-out, RBI single in the fourth for a 2-1 lead and Hailey added two runs in the seventh.
The match-ups for Saturday's third-place and championship games were something of a mish-mash because of two developments in the tourney:
First of all, Highland of Pocatello violated the Idaho High School Activities Association nine-inning pitching rule and forfeited its 1-0 win over Preston, giving Preston the #1 seed in the "A" group.
Secondly, Century told tournament director Hansen before the two-day tournament that they wouldn't be able to compete in Saturday's late title game because of Prom Night.
Century and Wood River had 2-1 records in pool play, but Century would have made the title game on the head-to-head tiebreaker. Instead, Wood River was ushered into the title game and Century assumed Highland's place in the earlier third-place game with Filer.
Against Preston, Wood River grabbed an early 2-0 lead on a two-run double by Tyson Reynoso (3 hits) in the first frame. But the Indians scored the next five runs for a 5-2 lead off starting pitcher Dankanyin and reliever Kenny Cardona.
Trailing 7-4, Wood River rallied in the seventh after a leadoff walk by Brady Femling (2 runs) and a single by Reynoso, but the Wolverines couldn't score the equalizer despite having the bases loaded with one out. Wood River also had some defensive lapses that allowed Preston to pad its lead to 5-2.
Tournament results: "A" pool—Highland 5-2 over Malad; Highland 4-4 tie with Jerome; Preston 3-2 over Jerome; Preston 1-0 over Malad; Malad 7-5 over Jerome; and Highland 1-0 over Preston, but the game went by forfeit to Preston because Highland's pitcher violated the nine-inning rule.
"B" pool—Century 7-5 over Wood River; Century 6-5 over Filer; Bear Lake 7-6 over Century; Wood River 15-3 over Filer; Filer 13-6 over Bear Lake; Wood River 4-1 over Bear Lake.
Third-place: Century 6-5 over Filer. Championship: Preston 7-6 over Wood River.
