HUMBOLDT — The A Iola Indians fell short in their quest for first in their four-team invitational tournament at the Humboldt Sports Complex on Sunday.
A rough top-half of the fifth inning saw the Indians’ lead over the Montgomery County Cardinals collapse after a series of misfortunes. To make matters worse, the originally planned seven-inning championship affair was cut short due to the field being reserved for another event.
Indians head coach John Taylor was full of optimism despite Iola’s narrow 5-4 loss to Montgomery County.
“What most people don’t know, is that it was a senior Legion team that we just lost to, and that we beat this morning,” Taylor said. “That was not a junior team.”
Before the Indians went head-to-head with the Cardinals for the first-place prize, Iola opened the tournament with two pool-play games on Saturday against Ottawa and the Midwest Scouts.
In the first game against Ottawa, Iola’s pitching staff carried its weight. Avery Blaufuss, Eli Adams and Jack White combined for six strikeouts, allowing only two hits and one run through seven innings.
Brandon McKarnin collected the solo RBI of the game for the Indians in the bottom of the second inning, bringing Adams home on a line-drive to right field. Iola’s two other runs came via two errors, resulting in the 3-1 Indian win.
Iola picked up where it left off in its second pool-play game against the Midwest Scouts. Trey Sommer snatched his first RBI to open the game, allowing Carter Hutton to score. After a one-run first inning, Iola turned the power on in the second.
An RBI single from Landon Weide brought home Drake DeLaTorre, and Hutton followed with an RBI double, making the score 4-0. The Indians added another run to its lead off a Scouts’ error, and would never relinquish their lead.
A late rally from the Scouts in the fifth inning inched them closer, but the Indians held on for the 7-5 win. Taylor was satisfied in Iola’s consistency with the 2-0 start, which would carry into Sunday. 
“I felt really good about our pitching, and it was phenomenal all weekend,” Taylor said. “Our hitting is still a little behind where it needs to be, but we got better this weekend. We hit better than we did last Monday and Wednesday, and it got better each game.”
Iola’s final game of pool play was a prelude of the championship game later Sunday afternoon. Taylor brought down AA Indian pitcher Ryker Curry, who is also listed on Iola’s A-Legion roster.
Curry tossed a gem, striking out 10 batters while allowing only one hit and a single run for the first five innings. On offense, Curry led the way with two of the Indians’ five hits. It was a sloppy game for the Cardinals defensively, committing nine errors which turned into nine Indian runs.
Blaufuss earned the save, and the Indians captured the top seed in the single elimination tournament with the 10-1 run-rule victory.
“I knew I was facing a senior Legion team, and Ryker is on my junior roster and a junior player, but to me, he is kind of an elite pitcher. So we thought we would give him a shot, and see what he could do to help us. He came up big time,” Taylor said.
The Indians needed to beat Ottawa before advancing to the championship bout against the Cardinals. Ottawa led 3-1 entering the bottom of the third, but then Iola’s bats awoke.
