Local high school tennis and golf players, and track and field athletes, stepped out into mild spring weather in southern Idaho for early-season action.
WRHS ball teams rounding into shape
Getting outside for practices is always an early-season problem that causes the hitting to lag for a while for Wood River High School softball and baseball teams. They make up for it with pitching and defense—and that was the case Thursday.
Coach Dale Martin’s Wolverine girls battled host Kimberly as Hailey sophomore pitcher Britney Bradley yielded only five hits in six innings and each defense committed only a single error. Kimberly (2-0) prevailed 3-1 over Hailey (0-3).
Providing the hits for Wood River were sophomore Ashley Hicks (1 run), senior Kori Paradis, junior Shelby Cooper (1 RBI), sophomore Ciceley Peavey and sophomore Lacy Harrington. Kimberly pitcher Katelyn Baumert surrendered only a sixth-inning run.
Coach Matt Nelson’s Wood River baseball program enjoyed a day of what he called “major growth for both our varsity and junior varsity teams” on Thursday at Buhl.
With senior righthander Tim Boyle throwing an excellent game, Wood River’s varsity (0-4) hung in there until the end and dropped a 4-2 decision to the Tribe. Senior Nick Brunker continued his hot hitting with another two-hit game and senior Dylan Simpson reached base three times.
Freshman Alec Nordsieck got a start at shortstop and played great defense for Hailey.
Wood River’s JV, trailing 6-5 in the sixth, rallied for its first win 8-6 with sophomore Kyle Weller launching a homer and freshman Lane Felger starting the rally with his first hit.
Wolverine tennis in Idaho Falls
First-year Wood River tennis coach Carlos Meza has welcomed what he calls “a great group of players, who are improving each day.”
Playing in Idaho Falls Thursday, Wood River gained experience during 7-4 and 9-2 losses to Bonneville of Idaho Falls and to Idaho Falls High.
Boys’ singles winners were Chase Hutchinson (twice) and Drew Morse. No. 1 boys’ doubles Cole Caminiti-Josh Morell won twice in straight sets. No. 2 boys’ doubles Stephen Pfeiffer-Max Mauldin also won twice, beating Bonneville 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.
Another win against Bonneville came from No. 1 girls’ doubles Alex Taylor and Samantha Taylor 6-0, 6-0.
WRHS track at Jerome
Track and field athletes from Wood River High School thoroughly enjoyed some rare warm and calm spring weather during Thursday’s Jerome Invitational meet won by Idaho Falls (boys) and Jerome (girls).
Wood River had three golds.
They were by freshman Bailey Rierden 30-9.5 in the triple jump, just two feet shy of the school record; senior Nicole Pratt in 300-meter intermediate hurdles (52.58 seconds); and the boys’ medley relay team of Brandon Yagla, Cameron Bingham, Ian Keys and Ty Reinemann in 4:02.51.
Sophomore distance runner Alexis Gonzalez placed in the 3200m (3rd, 11:00), 800m (4th (2:14.84) and 1600m (5th, 4:59.7). Sophomore Nick Bell had personal records in shotput (29-4) and discus (95-0).
The Hailey girls piled up 35 points, 13 of them coming from a 1-2-3 triple jump sweep by winner Rierden, second-place Molly Elgee (24-4) and third-place Brooke Sundholm (23-10). All are ninth graders. Junior distance runner Haley Montgomery placed third 3200m (13:00) and fourth 800m (2:40).
Another up-and-comer, freshman Sara Lichtenberg, ran 28.33 for third place in her first-ever 200m dash and also placed fourth in high jump (4-6). Wood River’s girls’ medley relay with Rierden, Sarah Lichtenberg, Pratt and Janel Passey ended up third (2:05.8).
Cutthroat tennis
Community School tennis players won 11 of their 12 matches over Canyon Ridge March 14 in Twin Falls.
Sweeping boys’ singles in straight sets were George Everitt, Willis Sanchez-duPont and Henry Everitt. Girls’ singles was also a sweep with Olivia Ott, Hannah Conn and Marleigh Poulson.
Cutthroat doubles winners were Reed Roudabush-Nick Krekow, Daniel DuFur-Nick Wright, Erin Hennessy-Jolie Blair, Trenor Gould-Sydney Hagenbuch and Paige Riedinger-Patrick Riedinger.
Prep golf at Burley
Wood River High School golfers enjoyed perfect weather Thursday at the Burley Invitational meet won by the Twin Falls Bruins (boys and girls) at Burley Municipal Golf Course. Medalists were Alec Perkins of Twin Falls (1-under-par 71) and Sydney Lee of Twin Falls (88).
Tyler Spence of Wood River had an excellent early-season round of 78 to finish eighth individually, followed by Reilly Neel with another fine round of 79. Wolverine coach Bill Petzke, illustrating the supremacy of Twin Falls, said all seven boys ahead of Spence were from Twin Falls.
Other Wolverine scores were Callum Stearns 97, Cody Richmond 101 and Brandon Dolenar 125 in his first time at a tournament. Hailey’s girls scores were Caitlyn Sfingi 121 in her first tournament, and Alejandra Garcia 176 in her first-ever round of golf.
