HUMBOLDT — Iola’s pitching depth came through splendidly for the Post 15 Indians’ Senior American Legion squad over the weekend.
Iola went 3-1 in the Kansas AA American Legion Zone 4 Tournament, including an 11-2 romp over the Independence Varsity Dawgs in Saturday’s championship game.
The Indians sent six pitchers to the mound over its three games (not counting a forfeit victory over the Independence Cardinals). None of the six allowed more than a single earned run in his respective outing.
“We knew pitching was going to be our strength,” Iola head coach TJ Taylor said. “‘We were hoping our bats would come around a little more than they have, but sometimes that’s just baseball.”
Iola (27-6) played one fewer game than did the Varsity Dawgs because Iola’s first-round opponent, the Independence Cardinals, did not have enough players available Friday, giving the Indians a 10-0 forfeit win.
The Cardinals did have enough for its round-robin matchup with the Varsity Dawgs, which meant the Varsity Dawgs had to use another of its frontline starters in a 6-0 win.
UP UNTIL an eight-run outburst in the seventh inning of the championship game, the Varsity Dawgs gave Iola pretty much all it could handle.
In fact, the crowd had barely settled into the stands when Independence broke ahead 2-0 against Iola in their round robin affair Friday evening.
Trey Sommer and Grady Dougherty had second-inning doubles to give the Indians their first run of the game. Kyler Isbell followed with an RBI grounder to bring Dougherty home, evening the score at 2-2.
But the offense dried up from there, with the Indians stranding runners in scoring position in the second, third and sixth innings.
Sommer and Gavin Page kept Independence off the board as well.
Sommer came on with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth. He induced a ground ball to second to escape the jam, then pitched a scoreless seventh to force extra innings.
But the Varsity Dawgs took advantage of a leadoff walk in the eighth, scoring the go-ahead run on a single from Spencer Crain to lead, 3-2.
Iola’s Korbin Cloud walked with one out in the eighth. He stole second and third, but Iola suffered consecutive strikeouts to end the game.
Sommer scattered four hits over 5.2 innings with nine strikeouts and seven walks. Jones allowed one hit over 1.1 innings. Ryan Golden allowed one hit over one inning of relief.
