Iola’s AA American Legion baseball squad brought home its second straight
state title over the weekend. But the Indians hardly felt like celebrating.
Iola crowned after rain washes out title game
PRATT — The Iola Indians were crowned AA American Legion state champions Sunday, earning the designation a second consecutive year — an unprecedented repeat for any Iola athletic squad. THEY DIDN’T know it at the time, but the state tournament boiled down to a single inning played between Iola and Sabetha early Saturday afternoon. DESPITE THE letdown of not completing the championship chase, Weir said the Indians have plenty of reasons to be proud.
Despite the historic occasion, emotions were bittersweet.
The championship was awarded after overnight rains Saturday and Sunday left Smoky Ford Field at Pratt’s Green Sports Complex unplayable for the title game between Iola and Westmoreland-Rock Creek.
After attempts to find an alternate site for the game were unsuccessful, tournament organizers declared Iola’s Leslie J. Campbell Post 15 squad as champion, Rock Creek as co-champion.
Because Iola (40-3 overall) went undefeated at 3-0 in the tournament, the Indians will represent Kansas in the upcoming Central Plains Regional Tournament.
Rock Creek lost its tournament opener, 1-0 to Ellis, then proceeded to win its next four games to make it to the championship game.
Like the state tournament, the Central Plains Regional will be in Pratt, beginning Thursday.
Delaying the championship until today or Tuesday became an unrealistic goal, organizers decided.
The teams already had been in Pratt since Wednesday, and many fans, coaches and even players had to return home to their respective jobs or other commitments, said Steve Queen, American Legion baseball commissioner.
“It’s not unprecedented” to have a state tournament called off early, and co-champions declared, Queen said.
“It’s very disappointing,” said Iola’s Nathan Whitcomb, who tossed a shutout in the Indians’ quarterfinal win over Concordia. “We didn’t get to play for the best part: the celebration. It doesn’t even feel like we’re the champions.”
His teammates agreed.
“I’d have rather won it,” said Trent Latta. “A dog pile would have been much more fun than winning it this way.“
“There’s nothing like it,” added Mason Coons, the winning pitcher in Iola’s victory over Sabetha in what became the de facto championship. “It sucks we didn’t get to celebrate like that again.”
The coaches, too, wanted the game to be played, but realized the weather prohibited that from happening.
“This isn’t the way we wanted it to happen,” Iola head coach Roland Weir said.
“We did want to play,” Rock Creek head coach Chad Herren said. “Still, I’m happy for Iola and I’m happy for Rock Creek.”
The teams had played to a near stand-still in their semifinal contest Friday — Iola scored the go-ahead run on Jarred Latta’s steal of home in the fifth inning, and led 5-4 — before storms arrived, just as the seventh inning was to start.
The game was about to resume when a second round of storms about an hour later prompted tournament officials to suspend the game until Saturday.
So both teams could do little more than wait for about 18 hours for the game to resume.
“Getting ready for one inning was a lot tougher than getting ready for a full game,” Iola head coach Roland Weir said. “There was no margin for error.”
Iola stranded two runners in the top of the seventh, giving Sabetha one final at-bat.
Latta, inserted in place of Coons, allowed a one-out double, then fell behind the next batter 3-0 before rebounding with three straight swinging strikes and the second out.
“I just knew I didn’t want to walk him,” Latta said. “That would have killed me to give up a walk at that point.”
The strikeout was the key sequence, Weir agreed.
“That was big for Trent to come back and get that strikeout,” he said.
The next batter, Sabetha’s Taylor Bauman, launched a 1-1 pitch to fairly deep left field.
Iola’s Braden Larson was waiting for it to land.
“It was a routine fly ball, but I was a little bit nervous,” Larson said. “I knew what was at stake.”
Larson squeezed the final out as the Indians erupted in a mixture of elation and relief.
While Saturday featured plenty of drama, Iola was put in position to win thanks to some key contributions Friday evening, Weir noted.
Coons battled gamely despite suffering blisters on his foot, thanks to a piece of concrete on the mound that rubbed his drag foot on every pitch.
Moons had to retape his foot after every inning because the blisters eventually broke, causing them to bleed.
“I was bleeding through my sock,” he said.
Coons allowed three hits and four walks in six innings, with three strikeouts.
Two walks and a series of three pairs of well-positioned hits — all dropped just out reach of Indian fielders — led to Sabetha’s three-run third. An Iola error in the fourth led to an unearned run as well.
“It’s unusual for us to make mistakes,” Coons said. “It was just a matter of bearing down and continue doing what we’ve been doing.”
Coons retired the last seven batters he faced as Iola retook the lead for good.
Iola’s offense, meanwhile, was sparked by Tyler Clubine.
His double and run in the third inning put Iola up 2-0. He then doubled in two runs in the top of the fourth to put Iola back on top, 4-3, after Sabetha had taken a 3-2 lead.
“I was looking for a first-pitch fastball,” he said. “I’d let too many of those go by earlier, so I didn’t want to do it this time.”
His second double came on a 3-1 fastball that hung over the plate.
“As the number nine hitter, it’s my job to try to get on base for Levi at the top of the order,” he said. “It felt ridiculously good to get those hits. I felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders.”
“We beat some good teams out here,” he said. “Hays is a good club, Concordia was good. So was Sabetha.”
Jarred Latta, Iola first baseman, agreed — to a point. “It doesn’t feel like we win, but we are back-to-back state champs. It’s something that will feel more special later on.”
Iola 5, Sabetha 4
Iola AB R H BI
Levi Ashmore 3 1 1 1
Trent Latta 3 0 1 1
Mason Coons 3 0 1 1
Derrick Weir 4 0 1 0
Jarred Latta 3 1 0 0
Braden Larson 3 0 1 0
Aaron Barclay 1 0 0 0
Eric Heffern 1 0 0 0
Drew Faulhaber 2 1 0 0
Tyler Clubine 3 1 2 2
TOTALS 26 5 7 4
Sabetha AB R H BI
Thaine Allen 3 1 0 0
McKenzie McAfee 4 0 1 0
Kyle Stallbaumer 4 1 1 0
Taylor Bauman 4 0 1 1
Nolan Keim 3 0 1 2
Tyler Edelman 3 0 0 0
Graham Howard 2 0 0 0
Keegan Schumann 2 1 0 0
Tyler Ulrich 1 1 0 0
TOTALS 26 4 4 3
Iola Indians 101 201 0—5
Sabetha 003 100 0—4
LOB-Iola 6, Sabetha 6. 2B-Tyler Clubine (2), McKenzie McAfee, Nolan Keim. HBP-Mason Coons, Aaron Barclay. SACF-Trent Latta. SACB-Levi Ashmore, Tyler Ulrich. SB-Jarred Latta, Levi Ashmore, McKenzie McAfee.
Iola IP H R ER BB SO
Mason Coons 6 3 4 3 4 3
Trent Latta 1 1 0 0 0 1
TOTALS 7 4 4 4 4 4
Sabetha
Blake Popkess 6 6 5 5 2 0
Taylor Bauman 1 1 0 0 0 0
TOTALS 7 7 5 5 2 0
