Youth Baseball: SEK 10U All-Star Tournament
The Iola All-Stars came away with second place in last weekends SEK 10U PeeWee All-Star baseball tournament at Riverside Park.
The tournament included Independence, Caney Valley, Coffeyville and Neodesha.
Iolas team consisted of 12 players from age 8 to 10 who were selected by coaches in the city recreation league.
Iola opened the tournament with a quick 10-0 run-rule win over Neodesha after four innings Friday night before struggling in a 10-9 loss to Caney Valley which moved Iola to the loser bracket.
That moved them immediately into a game versus Coffeyville where Iola jumped out to a 7-2 lead and hung on tight.
Coffeyville slowly pecked away at the lead and had the last at-bat in the bottom of the 5th with Iola clinging to a one-run lead.
I could tell they werent going to let this one get away, coach Jeff White said. As a coach and as a parent, you sometimes wish you could say the right thing to motivate them but they huddled together on their own before taking the field and told each other that they werent done playing. That was the moment I witnessed these guys come together as a team.
Iola hung on to beat Coffeyville 9-8.
This wasnt a traveling team that has practiced or played together at all, White said. There were a few boys who had never even interacted with one another before this event so to see them gel together on the fly through the game of baseball was pretty special.
After the win over Coffeyville, they ran into a rematch with Caney for a trip to the championship game.
Iola exploded to a 19-4 lead and walked away with their third tournament win after 2.5 innings. Iola moved on to the championship game versus previously unbeaten Independence. To win the championship, Iola needed to win not one but two games versus Independence.
Iola got a strong pitching performance from Kolton Northcutt who also homered in the game and the won 7-6.
The strike zone tightened for Iola in the winner-take-all game as walks extended innings putting a strain on Iolas pitching.
Independence jumped out to a lead and held it, walking away with a 12-6 win and the championship.
Our guys threw good enough to keep the game close through most of the game, but I give credit to Independence, White said. You could tell theyve been together for a while, they made a few more plays than us and they are a really good hitting team as well. I was really proud of how the Iola players and fans supported this team and event. Even in defeat, the players kept their chins up and from the outside looking in and thats something that goes a long way on and off the baseball field.
