It was a tough weekend for Wood River High School baseball and softball teams in their Great Basin Conference three-game series with the crimson-and-silver Canyon Ridge Riverhawks from Twin Falls.
Make it a clean sweep for the 'Hawks on the eve of the state-qualifying GBC tournaments.
The Canyon Ridge softball team earned the first GBC championship of any kind for the two-year-old school when it swept a senior-laden Wood River squad 10-4, 19-8 and 13-1.
In Saturday's twinbill at Hailey's Martin Field, Canyon Ridge's bats were merciless. The Hawks scored in each at-bat, covering 12 innings, and scored 32 runs. With authority they clinched the league regular-season title and homefield advantage for the GBC tourney starting Saturday, May 7 at 12 noon on their field in Twin.
Wood River (8-11, 7-5 league) came into the three-game series with little margin for error but still with a fighting chance to capture the GBC title.
But when the dust settled, the 'Hawks used relentless hitting and pitching prowess to humble the Wolverines. Chief tormentor was righty change-up artist Lauren Shotwell, who walked three and whiffed 16 in 10-4 and 19-8 complete-game wins Friday and Saturday.
Wood River needed to sweep Minico of Rupert (5-14, 2-10) in this week's season-ending three-game series and have Jerome (12-7, 8-6) beat Twin Falls (10-8, 9-5) Tuesday in order to grab the second seed and a first-round bye in the GBC tourney debut Saturday.
The Wolverines hosted Minico for their "Senior Night" Tuesday and will visit Rupert to complete the doubleheader today, Wednesday at 4 p.m. The double elimination tournament begins Saturday and continues next Tuesday and Thursday.
At stake are two berths in the State 4A tournament May 19-21 in Coeur d'Alene.
Meanwhile, the #5-seeded Canyon Ridge baseball team (11-11, 4-11) relegated Wood River (3-19, 1-14) to sixth place in the six-team league with a 16-2, 5-2 and 12-0 sweep last weekend that extended the Hailey losing skid to 12 games.
With the loss, Wood River moved into Tuesday's GBC tourney opener by traveling to #3-seeded Burley (13-9, 10-5). There is a possibility coach Matt Nelson's Wolverines, with a loss to Burley Tuesday, might face Canyon Ridge again Thursday, May 5 in a 5 p.m. loser-out game in Twin Falls.
Highlights were few and far between for Wood River.
Among them for the softball team: Devan Atkinson's two-run homer at Twin Falls Friday; and hitting by Taylor Gove (3 hits Friday, 4-for-4 Saturday), Shelby Cooper (3 hits, double, 3 RBI in Saturday's twinbill) and Sydney Tidwell (3 hits, double in Saturday's 19-8 loss).
For the baseball team, Braxton Parish and Jake Freeman each had two hits in Friday's 16-2 home loss that was close at 4-1 into the sixth before the 'Hawks busted it open; while Alex Padilla (3 doubles) and pitcher Zach Israel (6 innings, 5 runs) kept the Wolverines in the 5-2 game Saturday in Twin.