It's still a young team, with only one or two seniors in the starting line-up. But the Wood River High School softball team is starting to crank up its bats and is also catching the ball.
Tuesday, Wood River made its home debut at South Valley Sports Complex softball field in Hailey and blasted the Minico Spartans 14-3 and 24-14 in a Great Basin Conference twinbill. Wood River's two-game summary—38 runs and 25 hits at the plate, and only one error.
Coach Dale Martin's Wolverines (6-4, 3-1 league) extended its winning streak to five games. It's a nice five-game stretch in which the Wolverines have scored 87 runs on 71 hits and had only seven errors.
While the hitting has been great, the anchor of the winning streak has been junior pitcher Ali Levy (5-2). She was a pillar of strength with two pitching wins against Minico, one as a starter, one in relief. Her stats in nearly nine innings: 167 pitches, only 16 hits, 7 earned runs, 7 walks, 8 whiffs.
In Tuesday's 14-3 opener, Levy (97 pitches, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K) scattered 10 hits and yielded two solo homers by slugging Minico shortstop Tiffany Joyce. Levy ended the 10-run-rule game in the fifth with two strikeouts as Minico filled the bases trying to extend it.
Wood River blew it open sending 14 batters to the plate in a 10-run second, as Minico had five errors in the inning. The big hits were two-run singles by Josie Dawson (3 RBI) and Hunter Thompson (2 hits, 2 runs, 3 RBI). Levy (2 hits, 3 runs, 2 RBI) and Sydney Tidwell (2 hits, 3 runs, 2 RBI) also chipped in to the 10-hit attack.
Tuesday's five-inning nightcap lasted twice as long as the first game chiefly because of the number of walks—27 between the two teams, 17 of them by three Minico pitchers. There were 162 pitches in the first two innings alone, which had 15 walks and lasted 65 minutes.
Minico jumped out to a 10-0 lead, which Hailey erased with a 9-run second and 10-run third. The Wolverines sent up 12 batters in the second and 16 in the third. When it was done, 305 pitches had been thrown, compared to 175 in the first game.
Levy entered the game in the second after two Wood River pitchers couldn't find the plate. She provided stability and got outs in the last three frames.
Senior captain Alex Lindbloom (3 hits, 3 runs, 8 RBI) belted a grand slam homer over the center field fence to cap Wood River's second-run rally. Infielder Dawson (2 hits, 3 runs, 5 RBI) cracked a two-out, two-run triple in the fourth.
Lindbloom (3-for-6, 4 runs, 8 RBI) and junior Dawson (3-for-6, 4 runs, 8 RBI) were top Hailey hitters on the day, followed by Levy (3-for-4, 6 runs, 4 RBI) and junior Hunter Thompson (3-for-4, 3 runs, 4 RBI). Wood River had eight extra-base hits among its 25 twinbill safeties.
Other hitters in the 24-14 nightcap were K.T. Martinez (4 runs, 2 RBI), Kori Paradis (RBI double), Taylor Gove (2 hits, 2 runs) and senior Rachel Maier (2 bunt singles, 3 runs).
The Hailey girls travel to Kuna Saturday, April 17 for a twinbill starting at noon. On Thursday, Twin Falls visits Hailey for a single game. Wood River goes to Twin Friday.
Wood River senior captain Alex Lindbloom is usually her team’s catcher, but she started Tuesday’s second game at shortstop to give promising freshman Kori Paradis some time behind the dish. Photo by David N. Seelig
