A walk-off homer by Jacob Carpenter wrapped up the KABA Upper Division Tournament in the championship game for the Iola AA American Legion Post 15 Indians late Sunday afternoon. Overall, the team won all three of its games this weekend.
The Indian’s first game was a 10-0 run-ruled win over Wellsville, which won their game earlier in the day against Chanute 3-0.
“You couldn’t ask for a better start,” coach Roland Weir said. “I can’t say enough about Alex (Murrow). All year long he’s gone out and just pitched and threw strikes. We supported him with the bats.”
Alex Murrow started for the Indians. His toughest inning would be the first. The first three Wellsville runners reached to load the bases. He regained his composure to strike out the next two batters and retire the final out of the inning on a ground out.
Hunter Murrow drew a walk to start off the Indian’s offense. With one out, Trent Latta was batting and Hunter Murrow came around to score on a wild pitch. Latta ended up with a single and came around to score on a single by Derrick Weir.
Alex Murrow had no trouble in the second inning, retiring the side in order with two strikeouts. Iola’s offense stalled in the inning. Carpenter was the only batter to get to first, reaching on an error. Another 1-2-3 inning from Alex Murrow began the third inning. The Indians scored seven runs in the bottom of the frame. Weir knocked in two more RBIs on another single. He would score on a wild pitch during Grayson Pearish’s at-bat, who ended up with an RBI single himself. Hunter Murrow reached first on an errant throw, at the same time, another run scored. Drew Faulhaber ended the scoring for Iola with two RBIs on a single. Iola now led 9-0 after three innings.
Wellsville couldn’t get anything going in the fourth, leaving an opportunity for Iola to win the game by scoring just one run. Weir led off the inning with a single. Vanatta followed with a game-winning double that scored Weir. Iola won 10-0 and went onto face Fort Scott on Sunday in a semi-final game. Alex Murrow got the win, pitching all four innings. He had four strikeouts and gave up only one walk and one hit in the shutout.
Coach Weir was glad they only had to play one game on Saturday. If the Indians had lost, they would have had to play at least two more games to get to Sunday.
“Oh, it’s a huge advantage, it always is,” coach Weir said. “That saves your pitching and everything.”
AFTER an easy win against Wellsville, Fort Scott proved a challenge in the semi-final game on Sunday. Latta started the game and the first inning was odd to say the least.
The first Fort Scott batter reached third after a throwing error. The next batter hit a ball to center field resulting in what appeared to be a sacrifice fly to score the runner at third. Instead, Iola challenged that the runner left the base early and tagged third. The umpire agreed. There were now two outs and a tie game instead of a 1-0 advantage to Fort Scott. However, the inning wasn’t over and the oddness continued. After a single, the next batter hit a ball toward left field and no one came down with the out, as it fell to the ground, and the batter made it to second. On the play, a run scored. A line-out ended the top of the first with Fort Scott leading 1-0.
Iola couldn’t get the bats going and Latta was the only one to reach on a walk. In the second, despite a couple more throwing errors, Latta was able to get out of the inning with no damage to the score. However, the Indians bats were still hitless, as they went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.
The third inning resulted in another scoreless inning for both teams.
The Indians offense roared to life in the fourth inning. After a 1-2-3 inning from Latta on the mound, Hunter Murrow started off the inning with a single. After a wild pitch, Murrow made his way to second base. Faulhaber dropped down a perfect bunt, moving Murrow to third, and reaching first safely. Latta helped his own cause with a RBI single. Weir came up to bat with two on, but was hit by the pitch to load the bases. A wild pitch during Vanatta’s at-bat scored another run, and he would walk.
Pearish would then hit a ball in the infield. Latta came home as did the throw, and was called safe as was Pearish at first. Carpenter would strike out, but on the third strike the ball went to the backstop and another run scored. Aaron Barclay followed with an RBI-single. Hunter Murrow would add another run with an RBI-single. Iola now held a 6-1 lead after four innings.
