Royals seeded second at district

The Mountain Home American Legion Royals will open District Tournament play at 9 a.m. Thursday at Centenniel High School.

With a record in league play of 19-7, they were the number 2 seed in the 14-team league and thus got a first-round bye.

If they win Thursday, the Royals will play Friday at 2 p.m. at Eagle and, if they continue to win, Saturday at 10 a.m. at Eagle and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Eagle.

On Monday the Royals played the Boise Seminoles at Ft. Boise and won 6-2 behind the 5-hit pitching of Jason Simons.

Drew Cauffman led the Royals with 3 hits, including a double and 3 RBIs.

Wednesday at Eagle the Royals lost 10-4 to a solid hard-hitting ballclub. Andrew Grodi had a 2-run home run to power the Royals. Brian Turcotte had a run-scoring double.

Friday, hosting Caldwell, the Royals won behind Jason Simons' 3-hit 7-strikeout pitching. Jimmy Hendershot had 2 hits and 4 RBIs. Simons and Scott Arellano each had 2 hits for the Royals.

Sunday hosting Nampa the Royals won 8-4 as Jimmy Hendershot allowed 6 hits while striking out 14. Brian Turcotte had 3 hits and Drew Cauffman 2 hits, scored 2 runs and had 2 RBIs. Scott Arellano had 2 hits, scored 2 runs and had an RBI.

Soapy Walborn, the Royals' manager, was pleased with the Royals' play.

"We played well in some very hot weather. Jason Simons pitched beautifully in both games against two very good, well coached, teams. Jimmy Hendershot was magnificent Sunday striking out 14 against a good hitting Nampa team. He struck out their cleanup hitter 4 times.

"I am awfully proud of this team We have played shorthanded all year long, even having to forfeit one game because we only had 8 players. We have had great leadership from Drew Cauffman, Brian Turcotte, Jimmy Hendershot and Josh Good.

"We have had superb hitting, we have played good defense and had great pitching from a lot of people.

"All we have to do is play like we have in our regular season, keep the ball down, throw strikes, keep the pitch count down, play good defense, hit the ball and run our offense.

"We certainly have the potential to repeat as state champions. It will take some desire and commitment, but we can do it."