Springtime comes early in the low Snake River fruit country near Fruitland and Payette, and Little League coaches like to get the pre-teen boys started practicing early, in March.
The long Little League baseball season and some talented players were the reasons that the Fruitland Young Guns came up to Hailey last weekend and were quick on the trigger, winning the Ray Nelson Little League baseball tournament.
Bringing great pitching and slick defense with them, the Young Guns made it look almost too easy.
Fruitland, allowing only eight runs in four lopsided victories, captured the 12-team "Major" 11-12 year-old division of the 34th annual tournament played Friday and Saturday at Nelson Field in Hailey.
The Young Guns (4-0 tourney) pounded the runner-up Rupert Rangers (4-2) twice, by scores of 7-2 in the semi-final and 13-4 in the title game. Third place went to Meridian Heat (4-2) and fourth place to Wood River East (3-2) coached by Tracey Farrow and Hoss Schmidt.
WR East had some excellent efforts, starting with Friday's 10-9 come-from-behind triumph over Burley. Trailing 9-2, WR East put together an eight-run fifth inning started by Mason Kluge's two-run homer and finished by a game-winning double by Kluge (4 hits).
Having gained momentum from the huge comeback, WR East sponsored by Hailey Nursery, Uhrig Fencing and Rocky Mountain Hardware reeled off a 16-0 win over Meridian Knights—including a five-run second and a nine-run third. Kluge added another two-run homer and Alex Thomas clouted two homers for five RBI in the 12-batter third frame.
Fruitland blanked Wood River East 8-0, but the Hailey squad bounced back with a 7-4 loser-out victory over Burley. Collin Dean (2 hits), Nathan Farrow (2 runs) and Kluge contributed big hits in a three-run third that erased a 1-0 deficit. Then Meridian Heat eliminated WR East by a close score of 6-5.
Wood River West coached by Billy Kramer went 2-2 including an incredible comeback victory. The team's sponsors include Power Engineers and Pepsi.
In its first game, WR West downed the Rupert Reds 6-1. Jake Freeman had an RBI single, Connor Braatz (2 hits) a run-scoring double and Andrew Orr an RBI single in West's three-run fifth. Alex Padilla (3 hits, 2 runs) and Kevin Jensen (2 runs) also chipped in on offense.
Never-say-die was WR West's attitude in its 15-14 win over "Majors" Sportsmanship Award winner Cincinnati Reds from East Boise.
The Reds pushed across eight runs in the fifth for a 14-6 lead and WR West was down to its final outs.
With Freeman (3 hits, 2 HR) belting a three-run homer and Orr delivering a clutch two-run double to score John Siegel (2 hits, HR, 3 runs) with the winning run, WR West somehow came up with the nine runs it needed in the fifth. Braatz added two hits and Liam Donohoe contributed two hits and scored twice.
Unfortunately the West bats had done their final damage. West fell 28-0 to Rupert Rangers and 7-1 to Meridian Heat in its final two games.
In the six-team "Minors," for 9-10 year olds, the Twin Falls Cowboys (4-1) held off the hard-charging Meridian Astros 20-5 in the title game. Meridian lost its first game to Burley then won four straight games before running out of gas in the finale.
The Wood River 9-10s sponsored by Hamilton Jewelers and Hailey Nursery won the Sportsmanship Award in the "Minor" division.
The tournament is named for Ray Nelson, a baseball booster from Hailey who bequeathed a love of the game to family members and friends after he passed away in 1970.
Tournament directors for the fourth year were Mike and Buffy Brunker. And they got help from the usual hard-working Nelson tournament crew.
Check this week's Express Web site for a complete tournament summary. The Wood River 11-12 year old teams travel to Twin Falls this coming weekend for their final tournament of the summer.
