Royals return with silver from state tourney

There will be no trip north to Alaska for the Mountain Home Royals year.

The Royals had to settle for second place at the Class A State American Legion Baseball Tournament in Hailey, after losing in the championship round to Bear Lake. The Northwest Regional is Aug. 16-23 in Anchorage, Alaska.

Royals 3

Orofino 1

The Mountain Home Royals opened the State Class A American Legion Baseball Tournament with a 3-1 win over the Orofino Merchants Friday at Frontier Field in Hailey.

The game turned into a pitchers duel between Mountain Home's Jake Hiler and Orofino's Tyson Stowers. Mountain Home got to Stowers for two runs in the second inning after the Merchant's right-hander had walked Chris Rau and hit Joe Poseley to start off the inning. Rau scored on a single by Jordan Cisna, and Cisna came home on a fielders choice ground-out by Ricky Baker.

The Royals' third run came the next inning when Stowers gave up a hit and hit two batters to load the bases. Brock Morris scored on a ground-out by Jordan Cisna.

Orofino got their lone run in the fourth off Hiler after Michael Poppe reached on an error, stole second and came home on a single by Lee Harding.

"The thing I was most impressed with was Jake (Hiler)," said Royals head coach Mark Cotton in radio comments after the game.

"He threw quite a few pitches today, worked the guys deep in the count and threw tons of strikes. He's been like that all season.

"Their guy (Tyson Stowers) came out in the first inning and really put it to us. We couldn't even catch up with his fast ball. He's a returning guy from Walla Walla (Community College). He's a great pitcher up there on the bump."

David Zito had two hits for the Royals. Jordan Cisna had a hit and two RBIs, Ricky Baker a hit and RBI. Cal Vivier and Jake Hiler also had hits.

Hiler scattered four hits and struck out nine to improve to 11-0 on the season.

"I was trying to work down in the zone, not trying to throw real hard, just locate and throw strikes and just get outs," said Jake Hiler in radio comments after the game.

Royals 8

Blackfoot 3

Cal Vivier tripled in what proved to be the winning run in the bottom of the sixth, and three batters later, Joe Poseley cracked grand slam home run to put it out of reach, as the Royals beat the Blackfoot Broncos, 8-3 Saturday.

Joe Poseley singled in a run in the first to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. Jake Hiler had a two-run single in the second to make it 3-0.

Blackfoot got to Royals pitcher David Zito for a run in the fourth, and added two more, both unearned, in the fifth as they tied the game at 3-3.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth, when Ricky Baker singled to lead off the inning. Brock Morris' sacrifice bunt moved him to second. After Ricky Lee grounded to third for the second out, Cal Vivier tripled to the gap in right center to score Baker with the go-ahead run. Jake Hiler then walked, and Chris Rau was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Joe Poseley followed with a grand slam home run, his sixth home run of the season.

"This is a great ball team to be a part of down the stretch the past few weeks," said Coach Cotton after the game. "A lot of credit goes to the whole lineup. Obviously, Cal Vivier, with the game-winning hit that brought in the game-winning run, and then Joe (Poseley) with that grand slam, that was huge, but it's also guys like Brock Morris getting his bunts down, things that we weren't doing right in the District Tournament. So it was just a huge win for us!"

"I was just thinking that we had two outs and the game was tied, so all I wanted to do was make contact and find a gap, and it got through and we got the RBI across!" said Cal Vivier of his RBI-triple.

"I was just trying to put the bat on the ball because it was a full count," said Joe Poseley of his grand slam. "I was just trying to make contact and it just happened to be my pitch, so I unloaded on it, and in this high altitude the ball carries real well and it just went over the fence."

Joe Poseley and Jake Hiler led the 12-hit attack with three hits each, Poseley had five RBIs, Hiler, two. Ricky Baker had two hits, Cal Vivier had his RBI-triple, David Zito had a double, and Ricky Lee and Jordan Cisna also had hits. David Zito went the distance for the win to improve to 7-1.

"Things just kept happening and they put runs across the board and tied it up," said David Zito after the game. "I knew our offense was really good and eventually we'd get them back, so I just kept my cool and pushed through the hard times and just had faith in my team that they's come back for me, and they sure did!"

Bear Lake 7

Royals 6

The Royals battled back from a 7-1 deficit, and had their chances, but came up short Sunday evening, losing to the Bear Lake Bears, 7-6 in the semi-finals.

The Bears got an unearned run in the first and second innings to take a 2-1 lead. Doubles by Chris Rau and David Zito in the bottom of the second cut the deficit to 2-1.

Bear Lake got to Royals starter and loser Chris Rau for five runs on six hits in the third to go up, 7-1.

Mountain Home chased Bears starter Jordan Crane in the fourth inning, scoring four runs to cut the deficit to 7-5. Gabe Anderson took over on the mound and threw four scoreless innings.

It looked like the Royals might break it open in the bottom of the sixth when a walk, a single and a hit batter loaded the bases for Joe Poseley, who had hit a grand slam home run against Blackfoot the day before. Poseley grounded into a fielder's choice that scored one run. Gabe Anderson was then hit by a pitch to load the bases again, with one out, but Bears reliever Rob Smith got a strike out, and Ricky Baker's liner down the third base line was caught by Bear Lake third baseman Trent Alleman for the third out to end the inning.

The Royals went three up and three out in the seventh, as the Bears won, 7-6.

"Really, what it comes down to was that third inning," said Coach Cotton after the game. "We really had the jitters early and didn't make the plays we should have made, but outside of that, we played a heck of a game. That ball Ricky Baker hit down the line was huge. Their guy made a great play on it, and Jake (Hiler) made a great catch out in right, preventing some runs.

"Gabe Anderson stepped up big and threw four scoreless innings and really shut their guys down, who can swing the bat well. So there's plenty of positives for us today, and I hope the kids will keep their heads high and don't let that get to them and we come back and win three in a row and hopefully get to Alaska."

The Royals had just six hits in the ball game, with Chris Rau and David Zito both getting two of them, each with a double, Rau had two RBIs, Zito, one. Jake Hiler had a single and RBI, Ricky Baker had a single, and Cal Vivier and Joe Poseley each had an RBI.

Royals 5

Wood River 0

The loss to Bear Lake on Sunday meant the Royals had to face Wood River Monday morning to see who would stay alive and come back and face Bear Lake in the championship round that afternoon.

Mountain Home didn't have a hit after the second inning, but took advantage of the five hits they had -- and walks and hit batters -- to score three runs in the first and two more in the second.

Jake Hiler, with good defense behind him, kept the Wranglers from scoring, and scattered three hits through six innings. Wood River did get three hits to load the bases in the top of the seventh, but Hiler was able to pitch out of it without any runs scoring.

"Brock Morris made that great play to stop runs from scoring and help me out of the jam, then I was doing my best to get out of it without any runs scoring," said Jake Hiler, who improved to 12-0 with the win.

"It was an awesome outing by Jake Hiler," said Coach Cotton.

"He's thrown 14 innings this week and only giving up one run was very impressive. Another player stepping up was Brock Morris at shortstop. He made a huge play there in the seventh, jumping up for that ball."

Jake Hiler had two hits and knocked in three runs. Chris Rau had an RBI-double, Jordan Cisna an RBI-single, and Ricky Baker also had a hit.

Bear Lake 10

Royals 7

The Wood River win gave the Royals another crack at Bear Lake Monday in the championship round, needing to beat them twice to win the championship.

Bear Lake scored a run in the first and got to Royals' starter David Zito for five runs in the second to shoot out to a 6-0 lead.

Mountain Home took advantage of Cameron Crane's wildness in the third inning to score a run, as Crane walked four Royals in the inning.

Jordan Cisna relieved David Zito in the third inning and pitched two innings, giving up three runs in the fourth, as the Bears stretched their lead to 9-1.

Mountain Home only had five hits in the game, but got four of them in the sixth inning, the big one a bases-loaded double by Ricky Lee that scored three runs as the Royals scored six times to cut the margin to 9-7.

Bear Lake added another run in the bottom of the sixth, and the Bears reliever, Keith Cook retired the Royals in order in the seventh as Bear Lake won, 10-7, to capture the state title.

"This was definitely very symbolic of where we've been all season," said Coach Cotton after the game. "These guys are all heart. They've battled back in a ton of games, and both days we've battled back both games, we just didn't get the upper hand, and it's just one of those things.

"I'm very proud of all these guys. It's been a pleasure to coach them and it's never fun to lose a championship game, but these guys have nothing to hold their heads down about. They need to hold their heads up. They're a heck of a ball team and they've got a bright future ahead of them."

Cotton will lose three players due to age, and he took time to talk about each of them.

"Steven Budine, he's been through the program and has done a heck of a job for us and has been a pleasure to have on the team. The same thing with Joe Poseley. He came on strong at the end of the year and really put up some numbers and helped us down the stretch. David Zito, also was big for us. We didn't know if he was going to come play for us this year, and he decided to come out and he's definitely a big key to why we've been so successful."

Cotton is definitely looking forward to next year and thinks the Royals can do well again next year.

"We've got most of these guys coming back, and we're going to have a bright future for next year as well. It's been an unbelievable season and a total pleasure to coach every single one of these guys!"

Coach Cotton also wanted to thank the community for their support.

"I want to thank all the businesses that have supported us getting up here (to state). It was going to be really tough for us financially, and the businesses around Mountain Home just really came through for us, and even throughout the high school season, the hitting facility that got put in, all those businesses that were a part of that, we're really thankful for all they've done."