Good pitching couldn't rescue the Wood River American Legion baseball team during last week's 12-team Area C "A" tournament. The Wranglers needed hitting and just didn't get it in two games at St. Anthony.
Eighth-seeded Marsh Falls blanked #9-seeded Wood River (17-22) by a 2-0 score Wednesday, then #2-seeded Bear Lake of Montpelier ousted the Wranglers 8-2 Thursday on the South Fremont diamond in eastern Idaho.
Marsh Falls completed its Cinderella-story by edging Jerome 3-2 in 10 innings and ousting Twin Falls 9-1 in the championship game. Both teams advance to state.
Wood River coach Eli Lloyd was philosophical about the end of the 39-game season for 15-18 year old ballplayers. "We had the pitching but we couldn't string anything together at the plate. But the teams we played were tournament tough," he said.
The team's veteran player, righthander Tyler Thiede, worked his way out of a series of jams and threw an excellent game against Marsh Falls, Lloyd said. "Tyler's effort was notable. At times he had dominating stuff against a lineup that has some good hitters. But Tyler was really amped. He threw hard."
Lloyd added that righty Casey Hawkes "threw well enough to win," in the loss to Bear Lake. Wood River had expected to play #7-seeded Blackfoot in the loser-out contest, but Blackfoot upset Bear Lake 10-4 Wednesday on a day filled with upsets in the Area C "A" ranks.
"We thought we matched up better against Blackfoot but we didn't get that game," Lloyd said. The coach said that Wood River didn't hit all that well, but Jimmy Pierson had a good day at the plate in the finale a against Blackfoot.
"I'm proud of my guys for competing and not going into the tank. Having been in the tournament will be a good experience for them down the line," Lloyd said.
A lot of pitchers got their innings for Wood River this season: Thiede was 4-4, Pat Patterson 3-2, Kenny Cardona 3-6, Hawkes 2-3, Tyler Israel 1-1, Trent Seamons 1-1, Eric Jacobson 3-4 and Pierson 0-1.
Check the Aug. 10 Local Life edition for photos of this year's Legion baseball team.
