Lack of players causes Royals to forfeit win

On the field, the Mountain Home Royals came out with two out of three wins last week, but officially, just one win out of the three, as the Royals played at Capital with just eight players, which was declared a forfeit.

Boise Barons 8

Mountain Home Royals 7

The Mountain Home Royals let one get away from them on July 14 at Bishop Kelly when they faced the Boise Barons.

The Royals took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Drew Cauffman singled, stole second and came home on Jason Simons' single.

A three-run home run by Andrew Grodi made it 4-0 Royals in the top of the fourth, but the Barons got to Mountain Home starting pitcher Daniel Kaiser for six runs on seven hits in the bottom half of the inning to take a 6-4 lead.

The Royals came back in the top of the fifth to tie the game at 6-6, with Bryan Turcotte knocking in Daniel Kaiser on a double to left. Kaiser had led the inning off with a single.

Turcotte scored on back-to-back throwing errors by the Barons, starting with a pick-off play by Boise pitcher Ryan Moncarr that sailed into centerfield. The center fielder then threw past third base, allowing Turcotte to come home to tie the game at 6-6.

Boise regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth, after Ryan Moncarr was hit by a Drew Cauffman pitch, and T.J. Macy walked. Moncarr advanced to third and came home on a sacrifice fly to make it 7-6 Barons. They added another run in the bottom of the sixth to take an 8-6 lead into the seventh.

The Royals seventh started off well, with Drew Cauffman, Josh Good and Jason Simons all getting singles, Cauffman scoring on Simons' hit.

Ryan Moncarr got Brett Young to hit into a double play, with Josh Good moving over to third base. Moncarr then struck out Andrew Grodi to end the ball game.

Royals head coach and manager Soapy Walborn remained upbeat after the loss, saying, "We played well, but were missing some people today, and still had our chances to win it, but Bishop Kelly has some good players and they're well coached. Hopefully we can bounce back and play well from here on out."

Jason Simons and Daniel Kaiser both had three hits, Simons had two RBIs. Drew Cauffman had two hits and scored two runs. Andrew Grodi had a three-run home run -- his second homer of the season -- and David Wise, Bryan Turcotte, Josh Good and Brett Young also had hits.

Mountain Home Royals 13

Centennial Cannons 3

(5 innings)

The Royals scored 12 runs over three innings to easily take care of the Cannons on July 16 at home.

Despite the lopsided win, the Royals trailed 3-0 in the top of the second when Centennial took advantage of a couple Royal errors to score three runs against Royals lefty Jimmy Hendershot.

Mountain Home got one back in the bottom half, as Brett Young singled in Drew Cauffmann.

Jimmy Hendershot helped himself out in the bottom of the third with a bases clearing double as the Royals scored four times to take a 5-3 lead. They added five more runs in the fourth, and ended the game in the fifth under the 10-run rule, scoring three more runs, the final one on an RBI bunt single by Hendershot.

"I was really proud of the way the Royals played tonight," said Walborn after the game. "It was a great win!"

Brett Young led the Royals with three hits and two RBIs. Jimmy Hendershot, who limited the Cannons to just four hits while striking out eight, walking seven and hitting one, had two hits and four RBIs. Bryan Turcotte had two hits and scored twice, Drew Cauffman had a hit, two RBIs and scored three times, Jason Simons had a hit and two RBIs, and Josh Good scored three runs.

Mountain Home 14

Boise Capitals 5

The Royals showed up at Capital High School with just eight players, and, it was not determined until the umpires showed up as to whether or not they would even play the game. The umpires allowed the game to be played, with the ruling that every time the Royals arrived at their ninth batting position, it would be declared an out.

That proved to be no problem for Mountain Home, who pounded out 17 hits against three Capital pitchers. The fact the Royals had only two outfielders also did not seem to be much of a hindrance, as Andrew Grodi went the distance on the hill, scattering six hits and striking out three batters. Grodi walked seven batters, but had great defense played behind him.

Later, after a check of the rule book, it was declared to be a forfeit, which meant, besides the win, the stats from the game had to be thrown out, and there were many.

For example, Keith Pugh, who had just one hit in 18 at bats coming in, in limited play, had a two-run home run and two singles, and played a great game defensively at second base.

Drew Cauffman had three hits including an inside-the park home run and five RBIs. Bryan Turcotte and Daniel Kaiser also both had three hits and two RBIs. Josh Good had two hits including a two-run double, Andrew Grodi had a double, and Brian Fields and Brett Young also had hits.

The Royals were at Fort Boise against the Boise Seminoles on Monday, have a single game at Eagle tonight, and close out their regular season schedule at home, Friday against Caldwell and Sunday against Nampa. The District Tournament begins July 30 at Eagle.