CHANUTE — The Iola Indians’ Single-A American Legion team’s season did not finish with the ideal ending, but Iola coach Kris Collins enjoyed watching his young group improve as the season unfolded.
“Our top four hitters hit well all tournament,” Collins said. “Overall, our offense completely flip-flopped from the beginning of the year. They all started hitting the ball really well.”
That improvement was on full display Wednesday night in Chanute during the Single-A Zone Tournament. Despite a loss to the Olathe-based Kansas Royals, the offense shined for Iola.
The young Indians lost 13-9, despite jumping out to a great start with four first inning runs.
Shortstop Blake Ashmore reached on an error to begin the frame. Hesston Murrow kept the momentum going with a single on the first strike he saw.
After the Royals were able to record an out, an error on their part allowed Ashmore to score and get the Indians on the board.
With two outs in the frame, Griffin Vorhees singled to push the lead to 3-0 and later in the inning, he came around to score, making the score 4-0 after one inning.
The Royals responded with six runs in the second inning off of Iola starter Nate Berry. The left-hander struggled with his command in the inning and allowed two walks and had a pair of wild pitches.
“We worked on hitting a lot, but pitching is hard to work on when you have one practice a week if you are lucky,” Collins said. “Our pitching struggled a bit at the end and it might have cost us. Errors behind them hurt too.”
The Indians immediately answered three runs in the second inning to retake the lead at 7-6.
They started the inning with six-straight runners reaching base. Josh Vanetta started it off with a walk and then Ashmore, Murrow, Wyatt Seufert, Delich and Hunter Baughn put together five-consective singles to give Iola the edge again.
“We hit the ball well the whole tournament,” Collins said.
Berry threw a shutout third inning, but the Iola offense was also held scoreless in the third and the game went to the fourth frame with Iola clinging to a 7-6 advantage.
“We only had three kids on our team who had pitching experience above little league, so a lot of kids made huge strides pitching this season,” Collins said of his pitching staff. “Darius (Greenawalt), Wyatt (Seufert) and Hesston (Murrow) were the only three who had pitched consistent innings before the season. Vanetta stepped up did a great job and Nate was great. Having him as a lefty really helped.”
The Royals put up two runs in the fourth, but their lead was short-lived as the Indians also scored two in the fourth with Seufert and Delich each crossing the plate in the inning.
The lead remained at one for Iola going into the fifth inning at 9-8.
