It was boxer versus brawler as the Powell Pioneers opened 2009 Northwest regional baseball play against the Bonneville (Idaho) Bees on Friday with a wild 17-16 victory sealed by Auston Carter's bases loaded single with no outs in the bottom of the ninth.
The Idaho state champions jabbed away at Powell early, scoring unearned runs in the first, second and fourth innings. The Bees also made a stellar play at the plate, gunning down Andrew Young at the dish to keep Powell off the scoreboard.
That all changed abruptly in the bottom of the fourth as the Pioneers unleashed a haymaker in the form of an 11-run inning and the fight was on. Bonneville refused to back down, chipping away at Powell's lead and eventually chasing Powell starter Scotty Jameson off the mound in the seventh inning with a 13-9 Pioneer lead on the board.
Reliever Grant Geiser largely avoided damage in the seventh, but the Bees loaded the bases and tagged him for a grand slam in the eighth to regain the lead. Like any good prizefighter, the Pioneers saved a little something for the final round.
Down to the team's final at-bat and trailing 16-14 on the scoreboard, Powell began its rally with a two-strike single from Gianluca Giarrizzo. Jameson followed with a base hit, part of a 4-for-5 day at the plate that saw him drive in three runs. A base hit by Tyler Dahlgren pulled Powell within a run and, with nobody out, the Bees made the decision to intentionally walk Colter Bostick to pitch to Carter.
Carter promptly delivered the knockout blow, driving home two of his three runs for the game with a shot to the outfield. The victory was the third one-run decision in as many games at the regional tournament.
Kennewick, Wash., rallied in the eighth to win 8-7 in the opener against Box Elder, Utah. Laurel, Mont., staved off a ninth-inning rally by Roseburg, Ore. to hold on for a 6-5 win. Fairbanks, Alaska, and Bear River, Utah, were facing off in the nightcap. Powell will face Kennewick on Saturday at a time yet to be determined (either 4:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m.).
Diamond notes:
* The Powell Babe Ruth All-Stars wrapped up their own regional tournament appearance with a 10-0 loss to South Coast, Ore., today. We'll have more details on that contest in Tuesday's paper.
* Every member of the Pioneers' starting lineup drove in at least one run in tonight's contest. All but one of the players finished the contest with a hit.
* For those curious, today's game was played under partly cloudy skies with an occasional sprinkle of rain in the early innings. A wind shift overnight enabled fire crews to get the upper hand on many of the area's blazes, eliminating the haze and smoke that greeted fans to the city yesterday.
* Speaking of fans, the Pioneers had plenty of vocal ones in the stands tonight. During the battle of the fans in the seventh-inning stretch, the Wyoming natives both outnumbered and out-blared their Idaho counterparts during the singing of the "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Hopefully many more will take advantage of the weekend to find their way into town for tomorrow's game.
* Finally, and I don't think I'm alone in this observation, if I had a choice between playing at Casper, site of the Pioneers' district tournament victory two weeks ago, or Kearns High School's GatesField, site of today's games, I'd take GAtes Field every time. I don't know if it's a function of having the Olympic Skating Oval a couple of blocks from the high school campus or what, but take my word for it, it's a very, very nice place to play and watch a game.
No comments:
Post a Comment