6A baseball state tournament: How two teams took the inside track for a title
One ace pitcher came out of nowhere, and another bounced back from one of his worst innings of the season Thursday to send Mountain View and Owyhee into the winner’s bracket at the 6A baseball state tournament.
Top-seeded Owyhee (25-5) will take on No. 2 Mountain View (23-8) for a spot in the championship round at 4 p.m. Friday at Garden City’s Memorial Stadium.
Prior to that contest, No. 3 Eagle (20-8) and No. 4 Middleton (20-11) will battle in a loser-out game at 1 p.m. Friday. The winner will then face the loser of Owyhee-Mountain View in another elimination game at 7 p.m. Friday to set Saturday’s championship matchup.
Here’s all the key highlights from Thursday’s opening round.
IDAHO 6A BASEBALL STATE TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND
MOUNTAIN VIEW 7, EAGLE 2: The Mavericks didn’t turn to a bona fide ace or a pitcher with a host of accolades to start Game 1 of the state tournament.
Mountain View instead handed the ball to a junior with just 16 ⅔ innings to his name, one who went all of April without throwing a single pitch and didn’t make a single appearance on the mound last season.
But Ryan Yesford delivered, tossing a complete game while holding Eagle to two runs on six hits, while striking out a career-high eight.
“Everybody looks at our pitching staff, the media and all that stuff, and says they don’t have the arms,” Mountain View coach Justin Schneidt said. “And you’re right. We don’t have the arm. But what we do have is we have seven, eight, nine guys that we can go (to) and we can rely on, just like Yesford did today.”
Mountain View jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning thanks to a host of small-ball tactics that vexed the Mavericks most of the season. Mountain View loaded the bases and took a 2-0 lead without a ball leaving the infield. Owen Perry and Ryan Yesford then added sharp groundball singles to the outfield grass to stake a 4-0 lead.
Eagle immediately responded to cut the deficit to 4-2 in the third. Easton Gothberg smashed a solo home run on the first pitch of the inning. Carter Ditlove then tattooed the first pitch he saw into the right-center field before scoring on a pair of balks.
But Yesford shut the door from there to add to his late-season streak and reward the Mavericks’ trust in him.
“My approach was just first strike. First-pitch strike helps a lot,” Yesford said. “I just wanted to get ahead in every count, because I knew if I did, my stuff was good enough to beat them. And it worked out, for sure.”
An ugly injury marred the Mavericks’ victory as Perry suffered a lower-leg injury in the fifth inning while chasing a ball in left field’s foul territory. The junior’s screams rang throughout the stadium, and he spent more than 30 minutes in the warning track dirt before paramedics placed a splint on his leg and he left the stadium in the back of an ambulance.
“I don’t know all the details,” Schneidt said. “But I do know that we’re gonna fight for that kid, just like he did for us on that fly ball.”
Thursday’s victory adds to a late-season rebound for the Mavericks. Mountain View spent most of the season as the state’s No. 1-ranked team, then lost three straight district tournament games and only qualified for regionals via an at-large berth.
A fourth-straight loss in Post Falls put the Mavericks’ season on the brink. But they rallied to win three games in a day to return to Memorial Stadium, and then the state semifinals.
“They’re a resilient group. I can tell you that,” Schneidt said.
OWYHEE 5, MIDDLETON 3: The Vikings accomplished a feat no other Idaho team has this season by hanging a crooked number on Owyhee ace Christian Zannitto. But the Storm didn’t bat an eye and rallied to return to Friday’s semifinal round.
Middleton broke loose for three runs in the top of the first inning as Zannitto struggled with his command and grooved a few pitches. The junior entered the state tournament with a 0.78 ERA and stood as one of the state’s most dominant pitchers.
His struggles marked an ominous omen for Owyhee’s title chances. But the Storm answered with two runs in the bottom of the first to steady the ship, and they stuck with Zannitto, who tossed a scoreless final six innings to improve to 10-0 on the season.
“We just have that confidence, really, just based on results,” Owyhee left fielder Max Menke said. “It’s not, like, some fairytale thing. ‘Oh, we hope Christian is going to bounce back.’ We just know.
“... Especially on the bump, he just gets after it. He does not care what happens. He’s got a goldfish mindset. They forget things very easily.”
Owyhee stole some of the Vikings’ momentum with Jack Hallenbeck’s RBI double and Zander Jakovac’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning. The two perennial powers then traded zeroes until the fourth inning, when Menke came up with another clutch hit in the No. 9 spot in the lineup.
He laced a 3-1 pitch back up the middle for a two-run single that gave Owyhee its first and final lead of the game. Menke also delivered a key two-run single to deliver the Storm a regional title last weekend.
“He’s kind of been that double leadoff guy for us, which that nine hole is great for that,” Owyhee coach Matt Rasmussen said. “... He’s been doing a good job for us all season long. We needed somebody to step up, and Max was the guy that got it done.”
Middleton threatened one last rally in the seventh, putting the winning run on base with just one out. But Zannitto needed just three pitches to retire the final two batters, clinching Owyhee its 20th victory in its last 21 games.
This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 10:38 PM.
