In their first game this week, Iola’s AA American Legion squad scuffled a bit on offense, but still managed to take advantage of its opponent’s mistakes for an easy win in the opening of the Zone 3 Tournament Tuesday evening. EARNING THEIR third straight trip in such drama-free fashion did little to extinguish the team’s joy, Ashmore said.
In game 2 Wednesday, the Indian bats awakened after a couple of missed scoring opportunities. Iola erupted for eight runs over the final two innings of another rout.
Those wound up being just the prelude for quite a third act.
In their third game — Thursday’s Zone 3 championship game against Fort Scott — things were humming from the start.
The Post 15 Indians scored four runs before the first out was recorded, and wound up scoring 10 through the second inning.
By the time the dust settled, Iola was on the winning side of a mind-boggling 29-5 victory, securing the squad’s third straight trip to the State AA American Legion Tournament.
The Indians will seek to defend their 2012 state title Wednesday in Pratt. State tournament matchups were not expected to be announced until later this weekend.
“This has been our goal all along,” said Mason Coons, Thursday’s starting pitcher. “We said at the outset we wanted to make it to state, and then play well once we got to state.”
Not that they needed any more motivation, but Iola also had a chance for a bit of payback. The same Fort Scott club shocked the Indians, 7-0, in the KABA League Tournament earlier this month.
“That meant something to us,” Coons said. “We wanted to go out and get the jump on them.”
Jump they did.
Levi Ashmore started what became a 5-for-6 night by legging out an infield single, stealing second, advancing to third on a wild pitch and scoring when Trent Latta reached on an error.
Then came the thunder.
Coons, Derrick Weir and Jarred Latta each followed with RBI doubles — all courtesy of bombs over the Fort Scott outfield — giving Iola a 4-0 lead.
The same followed in the second inning. Ashmore and Latta sandwiched singles around walks to Trent Latta, Coons and Weir to add two runs. Aaron Barclay’s two-run single was the big blow. Eric Heffern also drove in a run with a single.
“My hat’s off to Fort Scott,” Iola head coach Roland Weir said. “They were short on pitching tonight. That said, we were hungry.”
Fort Scott’s weary pitching staff was no match. Iola pounded 21 hits and took advantage of 12 walks and three errors.
The floodgates opened even wider from there. Iola scored seven in the third and 12 in the fourth.
Coons, meanwhile, allowed only three hits and two earned runs in four innings of work. He walked four and struck out five.
“I thought Mason came in and did a good job once we got him the lead,” Weir said. “Our pitching staff from top to bottom has been solid all year. When we’re able to put our offense together like that, we’re pretty tough to beat.”
“Words can’t explain it,” he said. “It’s always a thrill to go to state.”
Weir credited his team’s hustle, and its mental makeup.
“That’s what I like about this team,” he said. “We have 11 guys on the roster, and I’m comfortable putting any of the 11 out there at any time. This whole team is fun to watch.”
Iola headed to state for third straight year
