Sandpoint out after one loss in rain-shortened tournament
TWIN FALLS — The Sandpoint Bulldogs’ first trip to the state softball tournament in 13 years was shorter than they anticipated — but it wasn’t entirely their fault.
Sandpoint was one strike from victory when Brooke Swafford of Twin Falls tied it with a two-run homer to center field in the top of the seventh inning. The game went to extra innings, and the Bruins edged the Bulldogs 7-6 in nine innings Saturday morning at Twin Falls High.
Because Friday’s first day of games was rained out, officials shortened the double-elimination tournament to a one-day, single-elimination tourney, with no consolation bracket. That meant Sandpoint was one-and-done.
“We didn’t get to play the tournament that we were preparing for,” second-year Sandpoint coach Elizabeth Hawkins-Williams said. “They hit the field ready to play, our defense was solid ... it was too bad we didn’t get that second shot that we would have in a regular tournament.”
Sandpoint (13-8) took a 4-2 lead in the fourth on Cody Baldree’s RBI single. Earlier, she hit a two-run double in the second inning.
The game went to the international tiebreaker rules in extra innings — where the team starts out the inning with a runner on second. Sandpoint matched Twin Falls’ run when Kaitlan Ward, who started on second, scored on a fielder’s choice by Bri Baldree, who finished 3 for 5.
Twin Falls took a 7-5 lead in the top of the ninth on an RBI double by Skylar Call and a run-scoring single by Mackenzie Connell.
Sandpoint answered when Sierra Nicholson singled in Sam Holland with one out. Nicholson stole second, but the tying run was left stranded there as the next two Bulldogs were retired.
“The girls really had to dig deep” after the game-tying homer, Hawkins-Williams said. “It’s been so long since we’ve been to state, they didn’t know what to expect, but they never got down. Even when the game was tied, they battled; they wanted to stay.”
Hawkins-Williams, a Sandpoint High grad who played third base at state in 2001 and ’02, said she got after Friday’s rainout, saying organizers received permission from the Idaho High School Activities Association to shorten the tournament. The state 5A softball tournament encountered similar weather problems in Idaho Falls and later in Blackfoot, but an arrangement was made for the four remaining teams in the winners bracket to finish it up today at Mountain View High in Meridian.
“I don’t know why we couldn’t play Sunday,” Hawkins-Williams said.
Sandpoint will lose six seniors, but will still return a wealth of talent.
“All the players, this is their goal, to get to state again,” Hawkins-Williams said. “I’m so proud of them, to watch them work so hard, and to do what no one thought they’d do, is very rewarding.”
Twin Falls 100 100 212 — 7 8 3
Sandpoint 120 100 011 — 6 9 0
Whitney Solosabal and Taylor Avram; Bri Baldree and Sam Holland. W — Solosabal. L — Baldree.
HITS TF — Baumert, Call 2, Connell 2, Swafford, Rierson 2. Spt — Barlow, C. Baldree 2, B. Baldree 3, Holland, Nicholson 2. 2B — Baumert, Call, Connell, Rierson, C. Baldree. HR — Swafford.