Idaho state baseball: 8 Treasure Valley teams will play for a title, shot at a sweep
Treasure Valley teams continued to dominate the Idaho high school baseball state tournaments Friday, claiming eight of the 10 spots in the championship round.
The 5A, 4A and 3A title games feature exclusively teams from the greater Boise region. And Nampa Christian (2A) and North Star Charter (1A) give the Treasure Valley a chance to win a state title in every classification.
[Related: 5A to 1A state tournament scores, brackets]
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHUPS
- 5A: Timberline (23-3) vs. Eagle (21-6), 5 p.m. at Wolfe Field, Caldwell
- 4A: Columbia (15-11) vs. Bishop Kelly (21-5), 4 p.m. at College of Southern Idaho, Twin Falls
- 3A: Fruitland (19-9) vs. Weiser (23-7), 4 p.m. at Fruitland High
- 2A: Nampa Christian (25-0) vs. Malad (21-3), 2 p.m. at Halliwell Park, Pocatello
- 1A: North Star Charter (15-1) vs. Genesee (14-9), 3:30 p.m. MT at Orofino High
5A BASEBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
EAGLE 4, ROCKY MOUNTAIN 3 (8 inn): The Mustangs were left for dead in the top of the first inning, surrendering three runs to their rival by the time they recorded the first out. But senior Ethan Wolff capped an improbable comeback when he scored on a walk-off wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning.
“Me personally, I wasn’t worried,” Wolff said after emerging from a dog pile of his teammates. “I knew our boys would have it. We’re fighters.”
Rocky Mountain had already thumped Eagle twice this season and threatened to make the third matchup ugly in the first inning. Conor Christiansen ripped a two-run triple before many had settled into their seats, and a four-pitch walk to the next batter chased Josiah Schubert before he could get the game’s first out.
But Pascal Kazadi rode to the rescue, inducing a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. He then put up zeroes the rest of the way, throwing 6 ⅓ scoreless innings to keep the Mustangs in the game.
Eagle tied the game in the second on Spencer Warner’s RBI single. And then the two West Ada rivals settled into a stalemate until the eighth inning.
Rocky Mountain reliever Luke Hines recorded two quick outs and appeared set to cruise into the ninth. But then pinch hitter Dallin Fletcher battled back from 0-2 to draw a walk, and Eagle pulled Wolff off the bench to pinch run.
Wolff admitted that was a surprise and he wasn’t loose. But another walk and infield single moved him to third, giving the speedy senior time to warm up his legs.
He put those legs to the test when Hines sailed a 1-1 pitch past catcher Cole Roberts, and Wolff slid head first into home to send the Mustangs to the state finals for the first time since 2014.
“There’s kind of been this stigma with Eagle of, ‘Eagle’s soft, and Eagle not getting there,’” first-year head coach Nick Stelzner said. “We started a whole new regime here with a new staff, guys buying into our philosophy, into our culture. I think what it does is it just sets the tone for things moving forward as far as what the Eagle Mustang culture is going to be.”
TIMBERLINE 3, MOUNTAIN VIEW 0: Carter Walsh admitted he didn’t have his best stuff Friday. But if that wasn’t his best, the rest of the state better watch out the next two years.
The sophomore right-hander fired a complete-game shutout, scattering eight hits and striking out three in the biggest game of his young career so far. And he needed just 93 pitches to send Timberline (23-3) back to the state championship game.
“He was doing that all year,” Timberline coach Casey Coberly said. “He beat Rocky (Mountain) three times this year. He just proved it again — he belongs.”
Mountain View (19-11) had plenty of opportunities to put some crooked numbers on the board, getting the leadoff runner on base the final five innings. But Walsh extinguished each threat he faced, stranding nine runners, thanks in part to a defense that turned a pair of double plays.
“I went in with the confidence that, ‘My stuff’s better than your stuff,’” Walsh said. “As a pitcher, if you don’t have that kind of confidence and you don’t trust your defense the way I do, it’s kind of tough to deliver in those moments.
“Thankfully, being a sophomore and getting a lot of innings this season has prepared me for that moment.”
Walsh’s record improved to 2-1, and he has a 1.24 ERA in 45 ⅓ innings this season.
Dylan Pike staked Timberline to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first with an RBI single. That proved to be all Walsh needed, but he gave himself more breathing room with an RBI single in the fourth. Logan Miller’s RBI single in the sixth added an insurance run to send the perennial power back to the championship game for the third time in the past four tournaments.
“We all grinded for the past three months to get to this very moment,” Walsh said. “It means a lot to us, especially since our season got taken away from us last year. We’re just taking it one game at a time and hoping we can deliver again.”
4A STATE TOURNAMENT
COLUMBIA 5, CANYON RIDGE 0: Mario DeLeon fired a two-hit shutout and struck out two to lead the Wildcats back to the finals for the first time since they won it all in their inaugural season in 2007.
Mateo Scott opened the scoring with a fielder’s choice in the first inning. Columbia then broke the game open with three runs in the third, including a two-run double by Lewis Anderson.
Columbia (15-11), which was picked sixth out of eight teams in a 4A SIC preseason coaches’ poll and needed to win a play-in game just to qualify for state, will face league rival Bishop Kelly for the title Saturday. The Wildcats enter as the underdog again after losing two games to BK this year by a combined score of 32-9.
BISHOP KELLY 12, TWIN FALLS 8: The Knights scored six runs in the top of the seventh to rally their way into the state finals.
Jack Heffner tied the game with a line-drive single that brought home a run. Then Caden Casagrande followed with a two-run double to left that gave Bishop Kelly the final lead change in a back-and-forth game.
Cole Snyder earned the win in relief, holding Twin Falls (21-7) to one run on four hits through 3 ⅓ innings, allowing the Knights to mount a comeback.
3A STATE TOURNAMENT
FRUITLAND 7, SNAKE RIVER 2: The Grizzlies (19-9) trailed 2-0 after the top of the first inning. But they scored the next seven runs to return to the finals for the first time since 2017.
Zane Bidwell got the rally started with an RBI triple in the third. Brennan Fitzsimmonds followed with a double to tie the game, and Dawson McGraw plated the go-ahead run with a double in the fifth.
WEISER 8, KIMBERLY 6: The Wolverines (23-7) raced out to a 6-0 lead after two innings and held on to upset their second straight district champion.
Beau Shield’s RBI double and Kooper Von Brethorst’s two-run single helped build the early lead for Weiser, which finished third in the 3A SRV and had to win a play-in game to qualify for state.
Brett Spencer finished 4-for-5 to lead the Weiser offense. Von Brethorst went 3-for-4, and Shields finished 2-for-3.
2A BASEBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
NAMPA CHRISTIAN 4, DECLO 3: Dane Bradshaw took one for the team, absorbing a walk-off hit by pitch to extend the Trojans’ perfect season to 25-0.
Nampa Christian starter Josh Tiersma struck out 10 and held Declo (15-5) to three unearned runs. But Landon Cheney picked up the win in relief, throwing a scoreless seventh inning.
Cheney also tripled and drove in a run to lead the Trojans at the plate.
1A BASEBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
NORTH STAR CHARTER 5, HORSESHOE BEND 3: The Huskies will play for a state title in their first year as a program.
North Star Charter (15-1) posted four runs in the bottom of the first and hung on to top its conference rival in the semifinals. Michael Corkish delivered the key hit in the inning, a two-run, line-drive single to center field.
The Huskies will face Genesee, an 8-7 winner over Prairie, for the title.
This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 7:05 PM.
