Road-weary Royals fall at regionals

At the coaches meeting last Thursday night, prior to Friday's start of the Northwest Regional Class A American Legion Baseball Tournament at Sheridan, Wyo., most of the coaches' concerns were hoping their team would be able to play after having a week off from winning their respective state tourneys.

Mountain Home Royals head coach Mark Cotton, assistant coach Matt Bundy and Royals manager Travis DeVore would have liked to have had that sort of problem.

After playing six games at state in five days in Coeur d'Alene, and then the long trip back home late Monday, Aug. 7, the Royals had just two days off before packing up and making the 12-hour trip to Sheridan on Thursday, and opening play on Friday.

The Royals showed some signs of being road-weary, but gave it their all, managing a win in three games at the Northwest Regional Tournament.

Richland, Wash., Knights 11

Mountain Home Royals 2

The Mountain Home Royals opened the Northwest Regional Tournament against a young Richland, Wash., team that had beaten much older teams to win the Washington state championship. The Knights included several players that had made it to the Little League World Series as 12 year-olds.

The Knights took a 1-0 lead in the second, scoring an unearned run off Royals starter Michael DesPres.

Mountain Home tied the score in the sixth, scoring an unearned run of their own off Richland's Cody Shepherd.

The Royals took their first lead of the game in the top of the seventh, as Tim Whitmarsh doubled in Michael DesPres, who had also doubled, but the roof caved in on the Royals in the bottom of the seventh.

Bret Young came on to pitch in the seventh, after Michael DesPres had to throw lots of pitches through six innings with a shrinking strike zone. Young could retire only one of the eight batters he faced, and Jeff Vogl came in to put out the fire, but the Knights would plate nine in the inning before they were retired.

Richland added another unearned run in the eighth to make it an 11-2 final.

The Royals committed six errors in the ballgame.

"We started out the game great," said Royals head coach Mark Cotton, in radio comments after the game. "Mike DesPres threw well, and we were hitting the ball, but then after that, we just turned into an absolute circus. Obviously the errors killed us. You're out of innings and it's a close ball game if you don't make those errors.

"It was almost like a letdown after DesPres came out of the game, and you can't do that. You've got to keep the same intensity throughout the whole game. We definitely didn't play like Team Idaho today. Hopefully, tomorrow we can come out with a whole new approach."

Michael DesPres, who struck out eight and walked four in six innings on the mound, had three hits at the plate, including a double. Tim Whitmarsh had an RBI-double, and Aaron Swartz, Alex Hoffman and Jake Hiler also had hits.

Mountain Home 14

Sheridan Jets 13

(13 innings)

The Richland loss put the Royals in a loser-out game against the Sheridan Jets.

The Royals got an RBI-double from Bret Young and an RBI-single from Chris Rau in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead. An RBI- single by Tim Whitmarsh made it 3-0, Royals after two innings.

Sheridan got to Royals starter Chris Rau for three runs in the third, to tie the game at 3-3.

Sheridan starter Eric Gillett loaded the bases with walks in the Royals' fourth, and a sacrifice fly by Chris Rau and a two-run single by Joe Poseley put Mountain Home back up by three, 6-3, after four.

The Jets got a three-run triple in the fifth to tie the game at 6-6, but Mountain Home regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI-double by Aaron Swartz. The Royals added another run in their sixth to go up, 8-6.

Chris Rau got the first two batters out with ease in the Jets' seventh, but then a fielding error kept the inning alive, and when the dust had settled, Sheridan had scored six runs to take a 12-8 lead.

Tim Whitmarsh came on in relief in the eighth, and the Jets increased their lead to 13-8, but then the Royals struck back for five runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game at 13-13.

From there, the game stayed tied at 13-13 until the 13th inning, when Alex Hoffman drew a walk in the bottom of the 13th with two out. Aaron Swartz then reached on an error, Hoffman going to third on a throwing error. Mike Anderson laid down a beautiful bunt down the first base line for a single, Hoffman coming in from third to end it, the Royals winning, 14-13.

"The first seven innings were absolutely sloppy, but the last six innings were beautiful," said Coach Cotton after the game, which lasted over five hours.

"The guys focused up and were up to the challenge. The kids stepped up and answered the call, and that's all that matters."

Cotton was impressed with the six inning effort by Tim Whitmarsh, who got the win in relief.

"Tim's that kind of guy. You want someone to come in and throw strikes and that's the man you want."

"I just hit my spots, and thankfully, my defense finally picked it up behind me -- that was a big help," said Whitmarsh, who had thrown just 5.67 innings during the season prior to his six innings of effort against Sheridan.

'That was a pretty gutsy call by Mike to bunt at the end of the game," said Cotton, 'but we needed something and he gave it his all and that was a great job!"

"The only reason I even did it (bunt) was because the first baseman was playing way deep, and I thought it might work," said a happy Mike Anderson after the game. "Nothing else was!"

Tim Whitmarsh had three hits at the plate, including a double and an RBI. Aaron Swartz, Mike Anderson, Bret Young and Joe Poseley all had two hits, Young had a double and three RBIs, Swartz and Poseley each had a double and two RBIs, and Anderson had the game-winning RBI. Chris Rau had a hit and two RBIs, and Jake Hiler, Steven Budine and Alex Hoffman also had hits.

Bitter Root Bucks 14

Mountain Home 8

After the win over Sheridan, which ended well after midnight, the Royals battled the Bitter Root Bucks, the Montana state champion at noon on Sunday.

The Bucks got to Royals starter Jake Hiler for four runs in the first inning, three on a home run by Dustin Lind, but the Royals battled back scoring two in the second and third innings to come within one, 5-4, after three innings.

The Bucks, who play in Florence, Mont., increased their lead to 7-4 in the sixth, but the Royals scored three in the seventh to knot up the game at 7-7, after seven innings.

Jake Hiler pitched into the eighth, but was relieved after walking the first two batters in the inning. Bret Young came on, but struggled as well, walking all three batters he faced. Tim Whitmarsh then got the call, and he managed to get all three outs in the inning, but the Bucks plated seven runs to take a 14-7 lead.

Mountain Home scored once in the ninth to make it a 14-8 final.

"It just seemed like that eighth inning got us," said Coach Cotton after the game. "It's something we've had a hard time with.

"You know we've played seven inning games all year, and it could just be a coincidence, but we definitely weren't at our best this weekend. I think the guys are really tired, you know, to have two days off (from state) and then having to take another long trip like that (to regionals), but hey, I'm proud of these guys -- they've accomplished a lot!

"All of our seniors, they're a special group of kids and I hold a special place for them in my heart, and I'm proud to have coached them."

Alex Hoffman had three hits including a double and scored three runs. Bret Young had two hits including a double and knocked in four runs, Aaron Swartz and Chris Rau both had hits and RBIs, and Tim Whitmarsh also had a hit.

Coach Cotton hopes his Royals can step back from being put out of the Northwest Regionals in three games, and look positive at their season, which saw them go 38-7, overall, winning both their district and state tournaments.

"After the sting wears off, I think they're going to look back on the season and hopefully it will serve as a motivation for next year and the future. It's memories that are going to last a lifetime and I know I'll hold these memories dear to my heart. This has been a dream season for us and we've had a good time."

Cotton could have almost everyone back, but expects to field a younger team next year.

"Technically, we lose just one, but the thing is, when kids go off to college, kids like Aaron Swartz and Mike DesPres, those college coaches filter them into semi-pro teams, which is the best thing for them, but we've got a lot of kids coming up next year, a lot of freshmen that are wanting to play Legion ball rather than Babe Ruth, and a lot of sophomores that were on our JV team, so we've got a very bright future as long as the kids are motivated and want to win."