Bulldogs hold off Wood River comeback, win 8-7 in softball
Kimberly gains top seed in tournament with win at Hailey
The Kimberly Bulldogs were collectively holding their breath Tuesday
afternoon.
Wood River gave the Bulldogs a big scare.
Trailing 8-3 in the seventh inning of the Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference game at South Valley Sports Complex in Hailey, Wood River
rallied for four big runs and filled the bases with two outs. But the Wolverines couldn't push across the tying run and fell 8-7 to league
front-runner Kimberly.
Kimberly (9-2, 5-0 league) nailed down the top seed for the SCIC A-2
tournament that starts Friday, May 4. Wood River (7-9 overall) fell to 2-3 in league play, but can still earn a homefield berth for the first
round of the four-school playoffs with a win over the Buhl Tribe Thursday, April 26 in Hailey. Thursday's Buhl-Wood River game will be a
preview of a first-round game between the two schools. Whoever wins Thursday will host that game.
Walks and hit batsmen continued to bedevil the Wood River pitching
staff against Kimberly.
Although righthander Bri Salmon (2-3) whiffed 13 Bulldogs and
allowed only eight hits, she issued five walks and hit two Bulldogs--and three Kimberly runs came across the plate on the free passes in
Tuesday's league contest. Still, the game was quite an improvement over Wood River's earlier 15-3 league loss at Kimberly, so Wolverine coaches
Chris Cey and Dale Martin have high hopes that Wood River can pull off an upset in the league tournament.
Wood River's near-miracle rally in the seventh and final inning of
regulation started when Ashley Washburn delivered a one-out single. Hot hitter
B.J. Adams (3 hits and 2 runs) doubled and Salmon brought home a run with a ground ball out. With two outs, Jonmarie Shaw (2 hits)
chipped in with an RBI single. Laurel Williams singled and scored the seventh run on a passed ball. The Wolverines proceeded to load the
bases, but Kimberly sophomore righthander Kayla Lundy enticed a game-ending grounder to keep the Bulldog SCIC unbeaten boast alive.
Others contributing to Wood River's nine-hit attack were Aspen
Wenglikowski and Joni Chatterton.
In the second game which didn't count in the league standings, Wood
River jumped ahead 3-0 after one inning, Kristin Lyons hitting a two-out RBI single to plate the third run. But Kimberly scored nine runs in the
second inning on eight walks and just two hits. The score favored Kimberly 9-3 after two innings, as the paper had to go to press.
Pitching for the Wolverines were Shaw, Wenglikowski and Lyons.