SABETHA Iola’s Post 15 Indians have no intention of slowing down.
After opening up the Kansas AA American Legion State Tournament with a 10-0 win on Wednesday they proceeded to crush Russell 15-1 in their second game of the tournament today to go up 2-0 in pool play.
Were having a lot of fun right now, second baseman Blake Ashmore said. Our coaches are really sticking with the program and just helping us along. They have our back and thats been helpful.
The 25-to-1 run differential is the highest so far in the tournament and 15 is the most runs scored in a game followed by the 13 runs Silver Lake put on Russell on Wednesday.
The offensive burst didnt come instantly though. Through the first three innings, the Indians held just a 3-0 lead.
Starter Derek Bycroft was commanding from the mound, throwing three hitless innings before getting pulled so he can be used later in the tournament.
Cal Leonard came in relief in the fourth and struggled slightly by comparison, allowing a run and two hits in his two innings. But when he really had to, he was able to blow by the Russell batters and get out of the innings.
Its a little difficult (coming in after a strong pitching performance) but at the same time it just motivates me to keep doing as good as he was doing, Leonard said.
Meanwhile offensively, Iola was starting to heat up. The Indians scored four in the fourth but left the bases loaded.
After Russell scratched across their lone run in the next inning, an amazing double play orchestrated by first baseman Lance Daniels got the Indians out of the inning. Daniels stretched out behind first base to snag a fly ball and rocketed it all the way to third where Bycroft was waiting to make the tag to end the inning.
Then came the marathon inning. An early pop-up from Leonard gave the Indians their first out but then just like the first inning on Wednesday versus Hoisington, Iola rolled through their lineout, hitting around one and a half times until their lead had ballooned to 15-1.
We just have to keep bringing that positive approach up to the plate, Leonard said. Telling yourself that youre hot gets you in that mindset to keep hitting. Once the player in front of you gets a hit it makes you want to follow and get one, too.
Part of the Indians offensive success came from six Russell errors. The Indians smelled blood and pounced, forcing Russell into mistake after mistake.
When teams are making errors like that, the biggest thing to do is just to put the ball in play, Leonard said. Then if youre active on the basepaths, it forces them to make bad throws and bad decisions and that leads to lots of runs which is why we scored 15 today.
With the win, the Indians have qualified for the championship bracket on Saturday. Iola will face Silver Lake at 10 a.m. Friday morning to play for first and second place in the pool.
