The Hillcrest Royals from Idaho Falls weathered Monday's 90-degree heat a little better and executed much better than the Wood River American Legion baseball team in a loser-out Area C "A" district tournament game played in Hailey.
Hillcrest settled down after a rough first inning and tamed Wood River 9-3 in a game that determined which team would advance to Thursday's 12-team district tourney in Twin Falls, and which team would stay home and put away its cleats.
Winning pitcher was Hillcrest righty Russ Phillips (107 pitches, 6 Ks), who tossed a four-hitter and didn't allow a Hailey runner past second base in the final four frames. Phillips allowed two unearned runs in the first when his team made four errors and breezed after.
The victory at Founders Field between the #12-seeded Wood River boys and the #13-seeded Hillcrest travelers avenged Wood River's 7-6 and 16-6 doubleheader sweep of the Royals nine days before on the same Founders Field diamond.
Hard-luck loser was Hailey ace Pat Patterson (3-10), who allowed only three earned runs but also committed a costly throwing error in the sixth. Hillcrest scored seven runs—five unearned—in the fifth, sixth and seventh to erase Wood River's early 3-2 lead.
Catcher Kenny Cardona had an RBI double for Hailey.
Hillcrest earned a berth against reigning Area C "A" district champion Marsh Falls of American Falls Thursday, July 27 at noon at Harmon Park, Twin Falls. Marsh Falls is seeded fifth. First- through fourth seeds are Upper Valley (29-1), Buhl (27-3), Bear Lake (25-5) and Twin Falls (20-10).
Wood River coach Matt Nelson considered his team's 11-24 campaign a success because many of his young players gained experience and had a few memorable moments over the course of seven weeks. The Hailey boys won four of their final seven games this summer.
One of those moments came Friday at Kimberly when Bryan Bray cracked a two-run homer in the seventh inning to beat the host Bulldogs 9-7 and make a winner out of complete-game pitcher Patterson.
Wood River (13 hits) actually led 6-0 in the second inning—scoring four runs in the first frame on a double by Patterson (3 hits), an RBI single by Tyler Israel (2 hits) and a two-out, two-run single by Trent Seamons. Israel's two-run single made it 6-0 in the second.
After Kimberly fought back into a 6-6 tie, Drew Anderson (3 runs) delivered a leadoff single in the visitor sixth, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Patterson. Cardona's leadoff single in the seventh preceded Bray's clutch homer.
Wood River (7-12 home, 5.9 runs offense, 8.3 runs defense) dropped Friday's nightcap 9-3 at Kimberly despite a two-run homer by Seamons and a double by Michale Brunker.
Right fielder Kyle Rose, a junior next year, made a fine running catch to rob Hillcrest?s Josh Bonnesen with Wood River nursing an early 2-1 lead during Monday?s district play-in game in Hailey. Photo by David N. Seelig
