VANCOUVER, Wash. — Behind timely hitting from the Snow Canyon batsman and stellar pitching performances of Tyson Fisher and Jed Jensen, the Warriors improved to 4-0 in Western Regional play late Saturday night. Fisher and Jensen combined to allow only four hits and no earned runs in a 10-0 whitewashing of the Idaho state champs.
The game was tight through the first four innings, with the Warriors clinging to a 1-0 lead, which came from an RBI single from Zach Nowatzke, who plated Austin Staheli from second.
In the fifth, the Warriors had seven consecutive hits and scored six times to put the game out of reach. With two outs and a runner at second, Austin Demming tripled to the fence. The Warriors continued with an RBI double by Fisher, an RBI double by Braden Baker, an RBI single by Staheli, an RBI single by Nowatzke and an RBI double by Spencer Snow.
The Warriors held the All-Stars from Idaho in the top of the frame and then scored three more times in the bottom of the six to invoke the 10-run mercy rule.
The offense was solid again, but equally impressive were the defensive plays by multiple Warriors. With two Idaho players on and nobody out in the top of the first, Baker leaped high in the air to snag a line drive and double off the Idaho base runner. In the second inning, the Warriors doubled off the Idaho base runners by a Fisher curveball and Staheli pick off to first base. The Warriors defense had one last prime time play when Brooks Sampson ran down a foul ball and dove to make the catch and end the inning.
“As the game went along our bats got hot, SC coach Nate Jensen said. “However, our pitching and defense was even better. We had some key plays to get us out of tough spots and save the number of pitches our guys would need.”
The Utah All-Stars have Sunday off and await the results of two other games to determine their seed in the semifinals. The Warriors need to win just two more games to earn a birth in the Junior Little League World Series in Taylor, Mich.
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