Owyhee was down to its last out. The defending champs rallied for shot at another title
Lake City had the two-time defending state champs down to their last out Friday. But never count the champs out.
Lucas Skinner ripped a game-tying double with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, and Cade Walker then delivered a two-out, walk-off single in the ninth inning as Owyhee edged Lake City 3-2 in the 5A baseball state tournament semifinals at The College of Idaho’s Wolfe Field.
Walker’s teammates stormed the field and mobbed him at second base as the third-year school advanced to the state finals for the third year in a row. No. 2 Owyhee (23-2) will face No. 4 Rocky Mountain (19-8) at 5 p.m. Saturday back at Wolfe Field for the title.
“I was going crazy,” Walker said of his first career walk-off hit. “It was awesome. It’s one of my favorite baseball memories ever.”
Walker had a rough day at the dish before his final at-bat, going 0-for-3, and he was 1-for-7 so far at the state tournament. But no one will remember those numbers, only his final moment as the hero.
“The baseball gods tested him, and you’ve just got to stay the course,” Owyhee junior Gage Haws said. “Baseball is a fickle sport like that. You’ve just got to keep on working and trust that bigger at-bats are coming.”
Walker wasn’t the only Owyhee player to get redemption Friday. Skinner struggled as the Storm’s opening round starting pitcher, failing to get out of the second inning. But he kept Owyhee’s state title hopes alive in the seventh inning when he launched a double into the right-center field gap.
The ball bounced over the head of Lake City center fielder Ty Shepard, allowing Keagan Kelly to score all the way from first base and give the champs a second life.
Lake City pitcher Kyle Johnson actually recorded two quick outs to start the bottom of the seventh. But Kelly kick-started the rally, Skinner tied the game in the blink of an eye, and the formula worked so well that Owyhee used it again in the ninth.
The Storm’s first two batters went down in order. But Ryder Cutlip was hit by a pitch, and Haws and Nathan Keith both worked walks to set the stage for one more dramatic moment for a young program already full of them.
“Culturally, I guess that’s just their deal,” Owyhee coach Russ Wright said. “They’re going to try to find a way to win. At some point in time, it probably won’t work out. But it’s not this time.
“They really compete. They really believe. And that can be a tough combination at times.”
Lake City took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly from Sean Jimenez and a run-scoring single from Charlie Dixon. But Owyhee’s deep pitching staff shut the door from there.
Freshman Christian Zannitto and Haws combined to throw five no-hit innings to give the Storm time to rally. Haws earned the win, striking out five in the final two innings.
The win Friday in a rematch of last year’s state championship sets up a rematch of the 2022 state championship for Owyhee, which will try to become the first 5A team to win three straight state championships since Boise did it from 1996 to ‘98.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN 10, MOUNTAIN VIEW 6
The Grizzlies found themselves in unfamiliar territory in early April.
A slow start saddled Rocky Mountain with a 7-6 record. And after missing the state tournament last year, the perennial power knew the postseason was no longer guaranteed.
But Rocky Mountain mounted one more rally Friday, scoring seven runs in the sixth inning to punch its ticket to a familiar place — the state championship round.
“All we know is work at Rocky. Work wins,” Grizzlies coach Stephan Zanoni said. “We just kept working. We just kept looking to find ways to get better, and I believe we’re starting to hit our stride and play our best baseball right now.”
The victory marked Rocky Mountain’s 12th in its past 14 games. And the Grizzlies needed every trick in the book to return to the finals for the second time in three years.
No. 8 Mountain View took a 5-3 lead in the top of the sixth inning and midnight looked a long way away for Cinderella. But the Grizzlies batted around in the bottom half of the inning to finally take control of a back-and-forth battle.
Jeff Thompson led off the inning with a double, scored on a single from Wesley Thompson (not related), and Rixon Rodriguez came off the bench to drop a picture-perfect, push-bunt single.
Rocky Mountain then amped up the pressure and things got interesting.
Wesley Thompson beat the throw home on a chopper to third base to tie the game. Lincoln Mathis capitalized on a botched rundown to score. A routine sacrifice fly to right field turned into an error and another run. The old first-and-third steal allowed Jackson Wendt to touch home plate. Finally, Jeff Thompson returned to the plate and ripped another double to cap the scoring.
Mountain View burned through four pitchers before it finally escaped the inning. The damage was already done.
“We were on them all day,” Mathis said. “They just weren’t finding holes, and then they started falling.”
This story was originally published May 17, 2024 at 11:53 PM.
