The American Legion AA Iola Indians lost 5-4 on Friday morning to Foley, which is the Minnesota state champion. ON Thursday, Iola got off to a slow start against McCook/Miner, which is the South Dakota state championship team.
Foley entered the game without a single blemish on its year, going a perfect 25-0 through the regular season and zone tournament. On Friday, Iola nearly became the first team to break that goose egg in Foley’s loss column.
But in the bottom of the seventh, Foley came through with a walk-off single to win the game 5-4 as well as the top spot in Pool A of the Central Plains American Legion regional.
Coach Roland Weir gave the start to 14-year-old Derek Bycroft, who gave up four runs in five innings of work. With the game knotted at 4-4 after five innings, Weir turned toward veteran Derrick Weir to take over on the mound while hoping the offense would come through late.
Unfortunately for Roland, the offense stopped clicking after Coleson Wiggins recorded a two-run RBI in the middle of the contest to bring the Indians to an even four runs.
Meanwhile, Foley had just enough pop in its lineup against Derrick Weir in the seventh. Derrick walked the leadoff batter in the bottom half of the inning and a sacrifice bunt moved him to scoring position.
A single was all it took for Foley to get the run across.
Despite the loss on Friday morning, Iola still finished second in the group, which was good enough to advance to the single elimination portion of the tournament.
Of the regional’s 12 total teams that began the tournament, eight move on to the bracket round by finishing either first or second in their respective three-team pools.
Because Iola won 17-4 against McCook/Miner (South Dakota) on Thursday, the Indians finished with a 1-1 record in group play. McCook/Miner, on the other hand, lost to both Iola and Foley within Pool A.
Iola advanced to play its first single elimination game at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Results of the game will be in Monday’s Register.
Caleb D’Armond gave up four runs to put the Indians in a hole early. However, Iola’s offense came through in clutch opportunities like it did throughout the state tournament.
In the third inning, Trent Latta notched an RBI single to give his squad its first run of the game. D’Armond came up two batters later to knock in Latta with a single to provide a little more run support for himself.
But the Indians’ lineup truly showed its potential one inning later in the fourth. Iola batted around and plated eight runs off four hits, one of which being a Kason Siemens grand slam.
It was Siemens’ first home run of the season, but he didn’t have to wait as long to pick up dinger No. 2.
Already up 14-4 in the fifth inning, Siemens launched another ball over the fence for a three-run shot. The Highland Community College signee finished the day 2-for-4 with a team-leading seven RBIs.
Hunter Murrow led the Indians with four hits of his own while also scoring a game-high three runs.
Every member of Iola’s starting lineup scored at least once in the 17-4 blowout of McCook/Miner.
On the mound, D’Armond settled down after a rough start and closed out the five-inning game to earn the victory.
Iola splits its two Pool A matchups, advances
