Royals fall one game shy in state title quest

The Mountain Home Royals, who entered the District Legion Tournament with a goal of making it to state, fell a win short Sunday, as they lost to Nampa in the game that decided the third and final seed from the Area B Class A American Legion baseball tournament.

Royals 11, Capitals 6

The Mountain Home Royals opened the Area B Class A Eastern Division Tournament at Mountain Home Tuesday night against the Boise Capitals, the team they had ended their regular season against the previous Thursday.

The Royals started strong, and finished well to down the Capitals 11-6.

The Royals' bats were hot in the first inning as they pounded out six hits to take a 5-0 lead. Capital scored a run in the second and Mountain Home added single runs in the second and third to go up 7-1.

A five-run fourth for Boise cut the lead to 7-6, but the Royals pushed across four runs in the bottom of the fourth to make it 11-6.

Eric Christiansen, who came on in relief of Jared Day in the fourth, shut out the Capitals the rest of the way and the Royals won 11-6.

"We came out crushing the ball tonight," said Royals head coach Mark Cotton. "It was nice to have Eric come in and shut them down like that."

The Royals pounded out 13 hits in the win, with Tom Hennessey and Anthony Castillo both having triples among their three hits. Castillo drove in four runs and Hennessey two.

Also collecting hits were David Bitrick, Trevor Woodruff, Skyler Podesek and Alex Rodriguez. Skyler Quintal, Ronnie Young and Joe Gutierrez, Bitrick, Woodruff and Podesek all had doubles. Podesek, Rodriguez, Quintal and Gutierrez all had RBIs.

Eric Christiansen knocked in a run and got the save for Jared Day, who improved to 9-1 on the season.

Centennial 9, Royals 8

The Royals faced the Centennial Cannons on Wednesday in the semi-finals of the Eastern Division Tournament and watched a 5-2 lead turn into a 9-8 loss to the Cannons when the Centennial squad scored seven runs in the seventh inning.

Mountain Home took a 5-2 lead into the seventh inning. Alex Rodriguez struck out the first two batters of the inning and the Royals were an out away from claiming the victory.

A walk kept the inning going and then an error, another walk and a total of six hits scored seven runs before Trevor Woodruff came on and was able to end the inning with the Cannons up 9-5.

The Royals had battled back from eight runs down eight nights prior to beat the Cannons and they were hopeful of doing the same.

The first two batters were retired before a walk kept the inning going. Then a single, a triple and a double produced three runs to narrow the gap to 9-8.

A hit batter and an error loaded the bases before a ground ball ended the rally, the Royals coming up short, 9-8.

Coach Cotton agreed, it was a tough loss to take.

"I told the kids it should burn, and it should bother them, because they've put a ton of time in this season, but they've got to put it past them and get ready for the next day and the next game."

Eric Christiansen was a single away from hitting for the cycle, as he had a double, triple and home run and drove in four runs.

David Bitrick and Skyler Podesek both had two hits. Podesek had a double and RBI and scored three runs.

Trevor Woodruff, Tom Hennessey, Anthony Castillo, Joe Gutierrez and Alex Rodriguez also had hits. Rodriguez had a double and RBI.

Rodriguez suffered the loss to drop to 7-3 on the season.

Royals 21, Toros 20

The Centennial loss put the Royals into a Thursday night game against the Mountain View Toros in the consolation bracket. It was a wild one, but the Royals prevailed, 21-20.

The Royals sent 12 batters to the plate in the first inning and scored seven runs, but Mountain View answered with four in the second, five in the third and six in the fourth to take a 15-8 lead.

Mountain Home sent 16 batters to the plate in the bottom of the fourth and scored 12 runs to take a 20-15 lead -- but this one was far from over.

The Toros scored two in the sixth to cut the deficit to 20-17 and then added three more in the top of the seventh before Eric Christiansen came in to get the final two outs with the score tied 20-20 heading into the bottom of the seventh.

David Bitrick led off the seventh and was hit by a pitch. He stole second, and went to third base on a passed ball. After Trevor Woodruff was retired, Skyler Podesek came to the plate. During his at-bat, another pitch sailed over his head to the backstop, and Bitrick raced home with the winning run.

"This team (Mountain View) has gotten better since the last time we played them," Coach Cotton said. "Being in the league we're in, we're playing younger teams, and what it really comes down to, as the season progresses, is they're going to get better, so we need to get better as well.

Eric Christiansen continued his hot hitting, hitting for the cycle with a single, double, triple and home run, driving in three runs.

Trevor Woodruff had three hits, including a double and a home run, and drove in four runs. Austin Bodily had two hits and an RBI and scored two runs.

David Bitrick, Skyler Podesek, Tom Hennessey, Alex Rodriguez, Anthony Castillo and Skyler Quintal all had hits. Castillo had three RBIs, Bitrick and Quintal had two each and Hennessey had one.

Eric Christiansen, who pitched the seventh inning, got the win to improve to 3-1-1.

Royals 13, Gems 8

An 11-run fifth inning proved to be more than enough for the Royals Friday afternoon as they downed the Boise Gems 13-8.

Mountain Home had problems hitting Gem's pitcher Gage Frederick, whose knuckleball pitch kept the Royals off balance for the first four innings.

Finally, in the bottom of the fifth, after the Gems had scored four runs to take a 4-2 lead, the Royals got to Frederick and his reliever, Kellen Copeland, for 11 runs to take a 13-4 lead.

The Gems added four more runs in the sixth before Tom Hennessey came on to shut them down the rest of the way.

"I thought we had a lot better effort," Coach Cotton said after the game. "We had a couple letdowns again, but, you know, that's baseball. Those things are going to happen. But overall, I thought we played really well. I thought our pitchers came to pitch and I thought our defense came to play, for the most part.

Alex Rodriguez had three hits and drove in two runs. Skyler Quintal had two hits, including a three-run double, and David Bitrick had two hits and an RBI.

Trevor Woodruff had a three-run home run.

Eric Christiansen and Joe Gutierrez also had hits. Christiansen drove in two runs and Gutierrez one.

Trevor Woodruff, the second of four pitchers for the Royals, picked up the win to improve to 5-2.

Royals 11, Cannons 6

The win over the Gems put the Royals against the Centennial Cannons in the Friday night game. The Cannons had lost to Emmett earlier in the day.

An eight-run second inning gave Trevor Woodruff more than enough runs as the Royals ousted the Cannons 11-6.

A grand slam home run by Eric Christiansen -- his third home run in the tournament -- was the highlight of the eight-run second inning.

The Cannons scored two runs in the fourth and added three more in the fifth to cut the deficit to 8-5, but the Royals answered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth to push the lead back to six, 11-5.

Centennial did score a run in the top of the seventh, but Trevor Woodruff struck out the side to end the game, the Royals winning 11-6.

"I'm glad we got through the game and got through the loser's bracket," said Coach Cotton after the game. "We've done it a lot this year."

Trevor Woodruff went the distance for the win, striking out 13 batters and limiting the Cannons to just three hits, improving to 6-2 on the season. He also had a hit and two RBIs at the plate.

Eric Christiansen had his grand slam home run, which plated four runs, Tom Hennessey had two hits and an RBI, Skyler Podesek had an RBI-double, Joe Gutierrez and Skyler Quintal had hits and David Bitrick and Alex Rodriguez also had RBIs.

Emmett 8, Royals 4

The Centennial win put the Royals second in the Eastern Division Tournament, which was set up for the Royals to then play the second-place team from the Western Division tourney for the third and final berth from Area B at the State Class A Tournament.

But late Friday night a "stink" was raised by a West coach about the tourney format.

Coach Cotton explained the situation Saturday morning before their game at Hawks Stadium.

"We had a team complain that it wasn't a true double elimination tournament, and so they're saying we have to play Emmett (for the East championship), and if we beat Emmett twice, then we're in, but if we lose, we'll play tomorrow to get into state.

"It's just adding more games on to it. It's frustrating, because we did have the bracket set up and it was fine the way it was."

As a result, the Royals ended up playing Emmett on Saturday for the East championship, and played them tough, losing 8-4, Taylor Nicholson's grand slam home run in the third being the difference in the game.

The Royals actually outhit the Blue Devils, 7-6, but four errors led to four unearned runs for Emmett.

"The young guys we put out there did good job, and it was good to see," said Coach Cotton. "That whole lineup is what we're going to have next year, and A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez), Jake Hennessey and Anthony (Castillo) were all on the bench, so it's good to see that we can hang with a quality ballclub.

Gage Curtis had two doubles and drove in a run. Skyler Quintal had an RBI single, Anthony Castillo had an RBI double, and Skyler Podesek and Eric Christiansen also had hits.

Jesse Rodriguez, who pitched the first three innings, suffered the loss to drop to 1-1-2. Gage Curtis pitched the final three innings.

Braves 7, Royals 6

Mountain Home went to the new College of Idaho Field in Caldwell Sunday to take on the Nampa Braves for the third and final berth at state. The Royals fell behind early and had to play catch up, coming up short, 7-6.

Mountain Home took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning without the benefit of a hit as Tom Hennessey and Eric Christiansen both walked. Alex Rodriguez moved them to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. Anthony Castillo flew out to right field and Tom Hennessey tagged up and scored.

Nampa came back in the bottom of the second to score four runs, helped out by a couple of throwing errors.

The Braves added a run in the fourth to make it 5-1, but the Royals struck for three runs in the top of the fifth to cut the deficit to 5-4.

Nampa added a run in the bottom of the fifth to go up 6-4. The Royals tied it up with two runs in the sixth, but the Braves regained the lead with a run in the bottom of the inning.

In the top of the seventh, Eric Christiansen doubled with one out and went to third on a passed ball. Alex Rodriguez then walked, but Anthgony Castillo grounded into a double play to end the inning and the game, the Braves winning 7-6.

The Royals outhit Nampa 10-6, but four of the Braves' runs were unearned. David Bitrick had three hits for the Royals and drove in two runs. Trevor Woodruff and Tom Hennessey both had two hits and an RBI each. Woodruff had a triple. Skyler Podesek had a single and RBI and Eric Christiansen and Joe Gutierrez both had doubles.

Alex Rodriguez suffered the loss, ending the season at 7-4.

Royals head coach Mark Cotton agreed it was a tough loss for his team.

"It's just one of those games where we're going to look back at six or seven plays and say, 'If that didn't happen, we win this baseball game.' It's a humbling game, and it'll break your heart."

The Royals end their season with a 38-10 overall record, a season Coach Cotton said his team has nothing to hang its head about.

"It's been a great season and we've played a ton of baseball and I think this team has nothing to hang their heads about. I think we've represented Mountain Home well, and I think that they've played their hearts out."