They needed a nice, clean Great Basin Conference West victory on their home field—and the Wood River High School varsity softball team got it Tuesday in Hailey.
Senior righthander Hannah Gove (4 K, 1 BB, 0 earned runs) twirled a four-hitter and blanked the visiting Burley Bobcats in each of the final six innings. The outcome? Wood River earned its first league and home win by a 5-1 score.
Wood River (7-9 overall, 1-1 home, 1-3 league) won for the second time in the last three games behind the pitching of Gove (6-6), the sturdy workhorse who has pitched 11 of the last 12 Wolverine games. Gove (2 hits, 2 RBI) also sparked the 8-hit attack in which seven different players stroked hits.
Hailey coach Dale Martin said, "Gove pitched her usual strong game. It was a very good all-around game. We hit the ball well. Even our outs were hard hit. The team is starting to play with confidence."
Other Wood River hitters were Dani Stone (double, 2 RBI), Angela Coleman (double), Lacie Anderson (1 hit, 1 RBI), Alex Lindbloom, Tasha Karst and Madison Gove.
Martin said he expected to have pitcher Samantha Engel off the disabled list soon, which will give the team a boost and take the load off Gove. Wood River played Jerome Thursday afternoon in Hailey.
Today, Friday, the 5A Twin Falls Bruins (16-1), featuring hard-throwing UNLV-bound pitcher Amber Petersen, arrive at the South Valley Sports Complex in Hailey for a 3:30 p.m. non-conference twinbill.
Petersen (12-0) whiffed 26 Skyline batters in 12 innings of two-hit shutout pitching Wednesday as host Twin Falls swept the visiting Grizzlies 5-0 and 10-0 in 5A region action.
"Peterson can flat-out bring it. She's arguably the best pitcher in the state and has a full-ride scholarship to UNLV," Martin said.
The junior varsity teams of Twin Falls and Wood River will compete in a doubleheader today, Friday at 3:30 p.m. on the Sawtooth fields across from Twin Falls High School.
Wood River will be the visiting team in Saturday's non-conference twinbill against the McCall-Donnelly Vandals, a State 3A qualifier last year. The teams will play in Caldwell starting at noon Saturday. The Wolverines wrap up their regular season May 1 at Burley.
After beating Burley 5-1 Tuesday, the Wolverines faced another league opponent, Jerome, for Senior Night in Hailey on Thursday. Five upperclassmen were honored. They were, from left, Hannah Gove, Tasha Karst, Dani Stone, KD Pruett and Lacie Wheeler-Anderson.
Photo by Willy Cook
